How important is scaling? For example, if you're charging $400/hour for consulting and filling 20 hours a week, would you need to scale? Products are great, but there's a lot of unbillable hassle involved in the path toward getting there. Your product needs to have a big enough audience to give you a strong paid user base. You need time set aside for marketing, support, new features, maintenance, and all the little things that are sure to come up. You probably need to create a second (and third, and so on) product as time goes on. And if the product only grosses a few grand a month, it can feel like you're stuck: on one hand, you have paying customers; on the other, you're making barely $40K/year for the effort. All that being said, a product with a solid user base and a solid team can pay serious dividends in the long run (assuming all goes well). It's just the struggle through the opening months/years to get the product to a place where you can actually pay yourself and staff and marketing budgets and such. I've had successes with product businesses, but they've always been a bit more high-touch than I prefer. (That whole "there's no such thing as passive income" thing.) Consulting offers a much shallower curve, and you can always "scale" by raising prices until you hit the proper blend of hours:billing. However, consulting also puts more responsibility on your shoulders to be available to your clients. In my experience I've found it's not impossible to make a good living as a consultant without killing yourself (six figures, <30 hours a week) if you set things up responsibly at the outset and know how to sell your own value. I'd be happy to share my strategies on this with you if you're interested. Good luck!

I can appreciate the goal, but you should be aware that anything like this is just going to be a starting point. Every company has different marketing needs. Industry alone isn't the only variable. Geographic location, price points, market position, existing customer base, and many more variables could completely change what any simple plan told you to do. Yes, a simple checklist could be a good way to start on an "average" plan, but please don't fool yourself into thinking you can shortcut marketing. It will be a very expensive mistake.

I am regularly asked questions similar to this by new business owners or business owners expanding to a new venture. Insurance has many niches that exist in the commercial insurance space, this is one of them. A couple of places to start; 1. If you already have a broker who handles commercial insurance this would be your first conversation. 2. Even if you have that, a second opinion is a good place to start. Do a quick search in an area in a different part of your state. Try and find a similar operation. Call and introduce yourself and see who they use. Since you are not competition they are likeley to gladly make a referral. 3.Typically associations have a ready made policy just for you. Give this a shot; https://www.acraorg.com/ 4. if leasing from a larger operation, I bet they have someone ready and willing to speak with you as well. Best of luck. Happy to chat further.

it depends on what your partnership agreement said but ultimately you should be able to create or execute on your buy sell given the terms of your partnership agreement. He should also forfeit any stock shares issued. If none of that has been done if the partnership was never inked properly, then it would just take an attorney to draft the dissolution paperwork and take him off any shareholder docs, etc.

If you are having doubts about taking the money then don't do it. The reality is that as an investor, a day will come when you are succeeding and there is room for a lot of growth - you are there now. If you think you don't need them, either raise the amount or lower their stake to were it is as cheap of funding to you as possible. If your recent sales are enough to generate a longer burn term while you go out and get more sales... then definitely don't take their offer. There is nothing wrong with declining investment requests. I'm sure this won't be the last; either from your own pursuit or their own interest. Best of Luck, Humberto Valle #thevirtualcoach

As with most things WordPress there are several solution paths you can take with this and the best will depend on the particular type of site you are trying to build. Your question suggests you may be relatively new to the platform and more comfortable with available wysiwyg / plugin tools rather than raw coding it all so here are three suggestions: (A) Types & Views + Cred Front-End Forms Builder http://wp-types.com this combo will allows you to define your CPTs; add as many metaboxes with custom fields as you need; build templates to display your content. (B) Gravity Forms + Custom Post Types: https://wordpress.org/plugins/gravity-forms-custom-post-types/ This can be used with above solution or ACF or Pods etc... (C) Formidable Forms: https://formidablepro.com/demos/real-estate-listings/ An example that shows Formidable has a built-in ability not just to create front end forms but can display the results in a ajax parametrically searchable listing with accompanying single pages. All of these will show submissions on both front and back end and can be set to appear as draft pending approval. Submitters can also be given permission to edit their own entries or pay for display of premium tiered content if your system requires that ability. If you provide me with more specifics we may be able to narrow it down or discover an entirely different and perhaps simpler way. There may be free plugins that do most or all of this but these are the ones I have personal experience with.

If you have no team or your team is lacking what they have it could be a great reason to reach out to them. On the other hand, if you have or can build the right team there is little to gain from partnering with starups like this. Remember that it takes a team to build a successful business and they are not the first or second to try this. My caution would be to make sure you have someone with food safety/regulation experience on your team. This business model has safety concerns which must be addressed to make it viable. Having started, worked with and consulted for food startups, as large as $1B, I can assure you there is a significant public health risk associated with this business model. Sorry to be the voice of reason here, but it is better to hear it from me than someone who is suing you due to a case of food poisoning or worse. As the purveyor of food - or even if acting as a conduit - you have an obligation to consider the public's health and safety. There is an assumption that the product will be safe, just as you assume your Uber will not be a 1971 Ford Pinto with bald tires and an unlicensed driver. Disrupting an industry by challenging the regulations is a great way to go, think Uber or airbnb. Even with the disruption you must still be able to service the customers in a safe way. The FDA states that there are "about 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually...these illnesses result in an estimated 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths." Food industry regulations, both local and federal, have evolved as a necessity. If you would like to talk through options which begin to address the safety concerns I would be more than happy to talk with you.

One of the start-ups I'm involved with does a lot of work alongside entrepreneurs building companies towards an eventual exit or sale... Here's a couple of recommendations, aside from the usual "research what typical sales people in your industry get paid" advice: 1. Incentivize unexpected business. In other words, don't pay them too much to solicit or close business that would have been easy for you to get or would have fallen in your lap anyways. Consider having two pay tiers, one slightly lower tier for business you probably could have attained with any salesperson's help and one that contains the dream deals that you'd need a star salesperson to get. Pay them to go after your white whales (Moby Dick reference for anyone who is wondering). This may result in greater overall marketshare than if you just hired a couple salespeople, who will naturally go after the low hanging fruit first. 2. Create a CONTRIBUTION FORMULA for the eventual buyout. If you're looking for a good long-term kicker, give them a piece of the company, based on how much they actually contribute to the bottom line over the period from when they're hired to when the company sells (or they leave). In other words, you may say something like you'll give them up to 5% of the sales price of the company, depending on how much of the revenue they generate. If they generate 50% of the revenue, you'd give them 50% of 5% (or 2.5%) when the company eventually sells. 3. Ask them what would motivate them the most. Duh. How do we not ask our salespeople this more? If there's an answer that excites them more than what we're offering, why wouldn't we consider it, right? We want them as motivated as possible. Of course, before you say "yes" to anything they propose, run it by your mentors, the folks on Clarity.fm and your legal and accounting team. I'm happy to have a more in-depth conversation on the psychology of motivation and pay (I'll put on my psychology hat) or preparing a company to be sold for the best price possible (my MergerMatch.com hat). Reach out to me through Clarity.fm if I can help. Best of luck! Ken Clark Coach, consultant and therapist to entrepreneurs

It's the product itself, the idea and accuracy of customer reviews, specifically whether there's a match for end client. Consulting on top of it can be used as one of additional nice-2-have features, but not primary focus. To make a parallel, some time ago there were info call centers, most of them used Internet as a source of information and charged customers for using their phone line (sort of wrapper, mediator between source and customer). So once customers started using Internet and bought smartphones, these info services became no longer required.

1. No one can predict the future. So just let it rip. Try this thought exercise: what's the ABSOLUTE WORST THING that could happen? If your app spectacularly fails, then what? Chances are it's not much: you're out the time you invested, and maybe a little embarrassed, but life goes on and you try again. Honestly, the only way to truly fail is to never try at all. So give it your best shot and hope for the best; that's what the rest of us are doing. :) 2. Everyone is making it up as we go along. There is always a better idea, a newer approach, or a brilliant new technique. But the truth is, 90% (or more) of success is just choosing a path and showing up day after day to keep making steps forward. Be flexible and ready to make adjustments. But never believe that anyone has this shit figured out. So take a deep breath and submit that app. Good luck.

Can you give any industry specific data? What types of products are you selling?

I've loved Reddit.com from a viral / incoming traffic point of view, but you've got to be a broad contributor, ensuring that you post non-business content and interact on other's contributions. If you only self-promote, you'll quickly get banned from the "sub-reedits" you really want to post to. It helps to make sure your customers and friends know when you post on reddit. Organic "up votes" can take your links from getting a few hundred hits to 10,000+. Hope that helps! Ken Clark Coach, consultant, and therapist to entrepreneurs

I know Vistaprint has/had a design platform that you can integrate into a larger website. I think it has a monthly fee. Hope that helps! Ken Clark Coach, consultant and therapist to entrepreneurs

The nature of this questions is shaky. Do you want an entire strategy outlined here? Are those 5K friends relevant at all? Are they targeted and engaged followers? With organic reach so low, I wouldn't be excited if those 5K people went straight over to his fan page. In the end, what does that mean? (Ok, enough rhetorical questions ) My advice is to lay out a strategy that actually helps the client reach his/her goals rather than simply "change to a page." I would create that page asap, outline a content strategy, and deploy an ad strategy to get super-specifically-targeted people into the pediatrician's funnel. (Plus, it's always helps to show quantitative results to clients. Email addresses are almost as good as new patients. If you're super savvy, you can actually convert those new emails addresses into patients for him/her.) ---------------------- Start by getting enough likes to advertise. Start advertising "shareable content" like helpful info in picture format. (People will share and engage with this) If there are blog posts to promote, promote those and pixel your visitors. If you can organize some sort of Facebook event or virtual giveaway, that will be a great way to generate quality leads for a pediatrician. (Again, pixel people every chance you get so that you are able to re-target them and keep your marketing message in front of them.) The most important thing here is to stay focused on delivering tangible results with social media services.

You'll ideally want to talk to an "Intellectual Property" attorney. I'd recommend taking a screenshot over everything on the site including their Terms of Service. You may be able to find an attorney that reviews it for free and tells you if you have any chance of pursuing the case. Check your state bar association's website… They often a searchable directory of attorneys by specialty. Best of luck! Ken Clark Coach, consultant and therapist to entrepreneurs

You'd want unique descriptions on each directory. Google wouldn't necessarily penalize you if 50 directories had the same description of your site, but those listings/links would be less valuable in Google's eyes and it's likely only one of them would be indexed. The more work you put in the more value you'd get. My advice concentrate on the top 10 to 20 directory sites and give each a thoughtful, unique description. Happy to provide further insights if you want to have a call.

I haven't really come across one in all my years of web development, design and consulting. At some point I worked with a small startup (failed) whose platform was similar in aesthetics to that of craigslist (not used the same way though) and even then I don't think we thought of looking for a 'packaged' solution for this. I would recommend Wordpress as platform and using a theme as I am sure there are Craigslist inspired themes out there. I would however be careful of certain themes because the majority of our small website clients are owners who feel technically savvy enough to implement a theme but quickly realize that there is more to installing a theme than just 'uploading' it to Wordpress. Themes should be seen as framing and mechanical systems in a house. You are told you can buy the lot and the structure and relatively easily make it look how you want it but unless you are an experience builder who can put up walls and stucco, install plumbing fixtures and move walls once you find out the current layout didn't work for your items or a window you got is too big and must be re sized... you are better off paying to get it all done for you. With that said, if you are the learning type and are willing to sacrifice weeks or months to learn to then implement a theme and customize, this is a good opportunity to do so; if not i do invite you to message me and see how I can help you guys out with a website done. Humberto Valle Also, subscribe to my http://Newsletter.Unthink.me/

I feel your pain — I've been there several times in a couple of my companies. Each situation ended up being unique, and had to be handled differently. I think there are a few things to consider before you make your decision: -- 1. What is in your cofounder's way? Is you cofounder being held up by a lack of clarity? Lack of motivation? Lack of autonomy? One of my past cofounders was very good at getting the job done, but didn't naturally have the skill to lay out tasks in a manageable way. To get around this, I worked with the whole team (4 people) to write up process documentation that removed the need to "figure out what to do next" that was tripping up this cofounder. -- 2. What job was your cofounder brought on to complete? And is it being completed? One of my companies brought on a cofounder simply to give us a marketing platform — he had a huge online audience — but he did nothing else. At first, this caused tension; once we had specifically laid out who was on the team and for what purpose, it was easier to identify where responsibilities lay. -- 3. Is your cofounder capable of doing the job? One of the more painful ordeals I've gone through in business is bringing on a good friend, then realizing that — despite his talent and intelligence — he just wasn't able to perform the job I'd hired him for. His skills were better suited for a different job: he needs hands-on management; he works better with repetitive tasks that don't require big-picture thinking; he lacks assertiveness and confidence, which were critical for the management-level role he'd been hired to do. After I tried to clear everything in his way, it became clear the company couldn't survive if he remained on the team. I had to lay him off. -- 4. Do you just simply not like the way this cofounder works? In one of my startups, there was a cofounder who I didn't know all that well, but he had amazing industry contacts and domain knowledge. However, once we started working together it became clear that we had VERY different working styles. He drove me completely nuts with (what seemed to me to be) a very ADHD-style of planning, with projects starting and being dropped and then coming out of nowhere with a call at 21:00 to discuss something critical that would be forgotten tomorrow. I'm sure I drove him nuts, too. So eventually we ended up selling that company — it was that or shutter it — because we knew there wasn't a chance we'd be successful if we continued as we were. -- Working with other people is tricky in general. Our instinct is to assume that we're the best workers on the planet and everyone else is incompetent, an idiot, a slacker, or all of the above. Usually it's a combination of an organizational-level lack of clarity, poor communication, no processes, and (sometimes) plain ol' we-don't-see-eye-to-eye-on-things-ness. Hopefully that helps. Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to hear specifics on my situations, or if you'd like any help devising a strategy for resolving your cofounder trouble. Good luck!

Neither domain name option is a very good idea. I'll explain why in a second, but first I'll answer your actual question. Although there might arguably be some slight advantage in having an exact-match domain of the form Name.TLD as opposed to a domain with additional keywords alongside the name, that advantage is probably negligible. Google algorithm updates, as I understand them, withhold that exact-match-domain advantage until a website has many other reinforcing signals of authority. (Their goal has been to downgrade spammy, low-quality websites.) Whichever domain version you might choose, Google will find the brand name CUJO mentioned all over your actual website and in the referring links. Those signals will be plenty for search engines to pick up on and hence plenty for SEO, and I'd expect them to overshadow the tiny difference between the 2 domains. Your choice shouldn't be based on SEO. Stop trying to please search engines, and start paying attention to your actual human audience. Really, your decision ought to be made based on the memorability and first impression of the domains. Is the extra keyword in .COM better than a name without that extra keyword in .IO? For humans, that is. Either way, you'll run into competition from CUJO.com. And that's a potential problem. Another problem would be pronunciation ambiguity. Spanish and English speakers will see the name very differently, based on that "J". Spelling isn't altogether clear either – Koojo, Kujo, Coojo, Cujo? The main problem I see, however, is that Cujo is a murderous dog in a Stephen King novel. Since most searches for Cujo will aim at that meaning, your site will be perceived by Google as usually irrelevant in comparison with searchers' intentions. And that doesn't help SEO.

Prove that it'll make money: 1. Call real people that would pay for it and talk to them about their needs. Do they describe what you're planning to do? 2. Build a simple email capture page (use something like LeadPages or OptimizePress to keep it cheap/easy) and write marketing copy to capture interest. Collect emails to see how interested your market is in the product. 3. Test. Tweak your copy based on feedback and repeat steps 1 & 2. 4. Once you have a legitimate amount of interest, you can either A) seek out a technical co-founder to build the app; B) write a business plan and pitch to potential investors; or C) bootstrap the business by hiring people out of pocket to build it for you. 5. Keep repeating steps 1–3 regularly to ensure you're still creating something people will actually use. 6. Release it with the minimum amount of features required to make it useful, then invite beta users to see how they use the app. Are they doing what you expected? Are they getting stuck anywhere? Do they need a feature you haven't considered yet? 7. Iterate. Building an app is one of those simple-not-easy processes. A great app with no audience won't get far. A bad app with a huge audience won't last long. If you'd like some help with creating a strategy, I'd be happy to share my prior experiences with bootstrapping companies and laying out business development plans. Good luck!

There are some angel investors that may invest in your business, depending on how much traction you have but most investors want to see a proof of concept and some traction. The best advice I can give you is try to get the app done and continue to have conversations with investors outside of your family and friends. All you need is to find someone who believes in your vision. Even if you don't find an investor who is willing to take the risk, the worst case scenario us you build some good relationships that can be leverage later and you will get some valuable feedback on your product. Good luck.

Before you spend $ or time marketing your service / website, ensure that your brand itself is quite strong. For example, if your name or domain is awkward, ambiguous, or off-putting, then every dollar and hour you spend promoting your brand will work less efficiently in your favor than if you were spending the same amount of money and time marketing something more robust and attractive.

can you elaborate?

I've heard of people having some success with https://www.cofounderslab.com/ but overall you just have to get serious about networking at technical Meetups, etc. It really depends on your geographic location. In some cities this is easier than in others. I have cofounders in different states, so if you organize your remote communications well that is an option. I'd be happy to discuss this topic with you.

Give them parts of the product for free and if your product is great they will see the value in spending in you. The reality is that even free costs people time and effort, once you have provided them with value to return costing them money is not that much of a risk because they are already vested in you.