I'm working on a character line. We have copyrighted characters and multimedia featuring them...songs, videos, books. You know what else we have? Corporate sponsors. Are the wheels starting to turn? If you're a toy manufacturer, you get into the action figure business because you want to sell the toys you make. If you're not a toy manufacturer, then you get into the action figure business to license content and characters to help other organizations promote their agenda to consumers. Publishing is a tool but should not be your focus. To discover who your characters are in line with, and how to market to them, let's book a call.

People face problems – real problems they may or may not see ... problems you might help them fix. If you're not fully established yet, then you must pitch your services to people who haven't fully realized that they need you. Trouble is, people are naturally reluctant to pay for advice. And that's easy enough to understand. Consulting is often a service without tangible end product. Either the topic is unfamiliar territory, in which case gauging the value of consulting is tricky; or else it seems deceptively familiar, like something they could do themselves to some extent. Maybe they simply have no space for consulting in their budget; so while they'd appreciate your advice, they're not ready to pay for your time giving it to them or gaining expertise. Right there, you have 4 points to make: (1) Emphasize results you'd like to help a client achieve. That's a more tangible goal for them to focus on. (2) Help them estimate the value of those hypothetical results. (3) Explain why going solo, winging it without a consultant, can be risky. No scare tactics necessary. You can point to plenty of non-clients with problems. And you can ask your prospective client what difficulties (if any) they're facing. (4) Connect the dots. If you add value, then the cost of hiring you should pay for itself. Yes, it would be helpful to start out as a celebrity with an amazing track record of successful past clients. However, all that really counts is whether you can help the next person and convince them to value that help.

Without some distillation - this is a rather enormous question - as you're essentially saying, other than choosing e-commerce and a particular category - what does one need to do to start a business? So, I'll choose to focus it down to what I always think is the most important thing to do at the early stages regardless of industry, approach, business model, or geography; idea validation. TL;DR - Get off the lab bench - talk to your ideal customers - start to add value from now via a "proxy". For those of you who have come across my answers here or elsewhere - you'll notice that I often turn to this advice; there's a reason - it's solid. In your case - it's also something that you can start now - even while you are finishing up the MBA if your decide to allow that to continue to delay your entrepreneurial dreams (I'm half joking). Start by identifying who your customers would be - how they currently buy what you'd be selling - and why they'd rather buy it from you. Don't stop on the whiteboard - you'll get enough academic exercise through your MBA. Once you've developed an understanding of who you THINK your ideal customers are - talk to some of them. Find out where they live online (you'll put this to good use again later when it's time to market in earnest). Use the conversations they are having online as a way to validate the pain you'll be solving with your solution. You can do some of this through mere observation - but you're far better off to join the conversation meaningfully. You can also start to add value and build a following among the population. I spend a lot of time talking to startups and helping them determine a "proxy" for their actual business. You can often "start before you start" using something like a digital information product or a blog. I have some ideas specific to your case that I'd be happy to share. By taking these concrete steps toward validating the idea now - you'll have a solid foundation to build upon, if and when your hypotheses pan out and you decide to launch your company. Until then - avoid the tendency to think of names, logos, co-founders, company HQs, ideal tech stacks, and the other 1,000,000 things that actually have to happen between now and you retiring a happy, fulfilled, and wealthy entrepreneur. Enjoy it! It's one of the most exciting and important stages of starting any business.

As Seth Godin once said "If all your customers care about is price, its probably because you haven't given them anything else to care about!" Get those numbers on bad handling, shipping delays, lost packages and differentiate yourself from your competitors! Repackage what it is you do, in the way that Orica stopped selling explosives and started selling a rock removal service. I don't know how many "shipping lanes" you have: if you have many, surely the level of competition differs. Make your money where there is less competition and be competitive where there is more competition. Look at your T&C's as well - can you make them more attractive to help differentiate yourself, or better align them with your clients business model? Hope that helps - happy to chat and discuss further

Hi There - I'm a development editor and literary agent with over ten years experience in the industry. Saw your question and thought I'd chime in. You can mention the story in your book, yes, but you do need to reference Malcom Gladwell's speech or whomever said it and wherever it came from. It doesn't have to be formal, but something like, "When Malcom Gladwell was speaking at xxx, he told a story about ....." Then after that you'd connect the story to the point you're making or it's possible the story serves to support a claim you made beforehand. If you're interested in hopping on the phone feel free to reach out. All the best, Cynthia

I have lost passion at least 100 times. It happens and the situation you find yourself in can make it challenging for you to care. I totally get that. If you are planning on getting out, I would try to position yourself so you have some time to regroup. If you are in a position to do so, I would spend the next year reading, traveling, meeting with people, having discussions, sleeping, and thinking. My best ideas have came from times where I walked away from other things that were not working for me any longer. It takes time for our minds to detach from the things that are dragging us down. If you are like me, at that time I was working too much and not giving myself time for growth. Stopping everything and focusing on myself and my family renewed me and allowed me to once again access parts of my mind that were bogged down with everything I had lost interest in. Hope that helps.

1. Paid targeted traffic to a sales page. 2. Free giveaways of one book, hoping to get paid sales of another. 3. Podcast/radio show guest appearances discussing the book's topic. 4. Get an authority talking about your book. 5. Affiliate marketing--get one of your books included as content or bonus in a marketer's solution package, and draw prospective customers back to you through links embedded in the book. 6. Post on relevant forums, blogs, Facebook/LI groups, Quora with appropriate feedback, linking back to your sales page/Amazon page. 7. Book a call with me to flesh out these ideas in detail.

I worked from a home office for 8 years before getting an office and hiring w2 employees. I wish I had focused more on systems earlier because I would have more quickly realized that I do not need a centralized office with employees that work in the same building. Though 75% of us work under the same roof, the way we communicate is the same way we would if everybody was located across the world.

I would use social. Since you know your potential users are spending a lot of time on their mobile devices and you need to get them to pay attention to their computer, I would market to them through social. Target the social channels that your target market would be frequenting. Don't be afraid to get creative. Even if your software is B2B, remember that they are people too and are probably on Facebook and Instagram. Take advantage of photo and video. Facebook video ads are still pretty cheap and targeting is great. Our Facebook video ads usually cost us about $0.05 to $0.08 per video play.

Hello, I will provide you feedback but know that is generally frowned upon to use this platform where people come with real frustrations and hurdles and use it for advertisement. You website has a lot of flaw, granted is a landing page, and it could be greatly improved. Quora is great not only because they have the work to gather the community of experts and non experts on an open platform where questions, surveys,etc can be shared by individuals and companies alike. They provide their features for free and requires no log in to view what is going on. Yours seems to a landing asking for contact information but you failed to provide examples or video or anything that explains easily in 1-3 seconds what it is that you are and why you want my email and how would I benefit from giving it to you. With that said, the idea of providing a niche for PHD students is cool and I can see that needed, as we go through higher education our tutoring resources become less and less available. I would however try to be everything to everyone - focus on one core value to one core group of people - reason: You don't have the time and money to expose and cater to everyone. Consider doing research in other websites with similar services like chegg.com Also, there is a class I took through onemnth here http://mbsy.co/onemonth/18573440 - it shows you how to build landing pages more effectively. best of luck :) Humberto Valle

I think there are multiple issues going on and I would honestly love to work with you on this as it looks like an actual challenge for me. I'm a business consultant and really do only like working with real hurdles that challenge me. One thing that stands out is your branding - or lack of. You can hire some really good talented people to get you a nice professional website relatively cheap. I can refer you one if you are interested. Second your products are not being featured either on google or your own website. For such products like these you really do need to have pictures. Also, PR {public relations} needs to be taken into consideration because your website mentions certain things I would never admit to myself on a business profile. Third and most importantly, there is a lot of help out there the issue always remains though - your initial approach and introduction of your service, your books, potential market and also the people you are going to. If you go to Bank of America for their small business loan program (just saying, not sure if they do have one) you will most likely not get one. Programs like these often seek individuals who are worth a lot and have large assets to use as collateral instead of financing the business. You have to approach investors, crowdfunding, SBA, not banks. Lastly, another thing I would consider is asking your vendors for better lines of credit allowing you to get the inventory you need and sell them prior to having to repay them.

Hello! Co-working spaces are places that people enjoy going to, especially mini startups, sole proprietors, developers, designers, etc. So at least you know there can be a market. Now, to figure out exactly which is your target market, you can do so by literally "asking" people... (not like you're used to). What I would do in your position is to run Facebook Ads in the area immediately surrounding the space (this can be done quite easily). The interesting part comes when choosing the audience: Instead of "throwing" your ads to everyone, you can specify individual interests (like certain tools, software programs, niche magazines, etc) and behaviors (small business owners, Facebook page admins, etc). Once you've segmented your audience, you can create a tailored ad that "speaks" specifically to their person. That way they will fell identified and most likely click on it. You would then send them to a landing page that talks about your space and what it will solve for them. If the space itself is still not ready, you can take advantage of this and simply use the landing page to capture interested people's names and emails. That way, you'll gain two things: 1. A prospect (lead) list that you can contact once it is ready 2. Knowledge of which market segment most responded to your ads and landing pages You will then use all this to continuously grow your business. :) Need help figuring out how to do this exactly? Let me know and we can either teach you or your staff or do it for you. Cheers!

I'll cut right to the chase. You need to pay to get a good person. You are not selling a product with recurring revenues or a widget that a lot of people need. You do one-off projects for very custom business needs. These needs are random, and there is a LOT of competition. The person you want to hire is someone who needs to have a great rolodex of contacts. He/She needs to be a good at networking, attending events, making connections, getting referrals, contacting people on linkedin groups etc. This is very hard work, and is not always rewarding (expecially in the begenning). It takes time to build the network that is large enough to be fruitful. You should not expect a high quality person to do this on commission only. You need to invest in helping them build the contacts. Because there are so many low quality businesses doing this, your US rep needs to stand out. He/she needs to be skilled in sales and business development. No one who is highly skilled will work for commission only. Happy to hop on a call to share ways in which you can identify great business development reps and how much to pay them.

I'm a founder, engineer, and scientist. I've been backed by prominent investors, and my work has been covered in prominent magazines and blogs, including Wired, Verge, and TechCrunch. I'll be happy to help you map out taking your idea from where it is to where you want to take it, including prototyping, finding cofounders, and getting $. In any case best of luck! Lee

I think you have a great start here - you seem to be detail oriented in both the "do's" and the "don't's" , and are genuinely trying to find a balance between task orientation and relationship orientation. In some of my work with tech teams, I have found the technique that is most illuminating is perspective taking - it leads to an uncovering of internal and external motivational factors, a better inventory of challenges and more concreteness in short and long term strategies. Give me a call and I'd love to explain how this can help your team members gain a sense of accomplishment and intrinsic/extrinsic motivation to both the project as well as the company. Happy to explain more, and good luck to you on the project! Best, Arjun Buxi, M.A.

If you are looking for data take a look at Mattermark which allows you to analyze the data on private companies and funding trends. You can get a free trial which would allow you to see all the data. Two other sites that contains a lot VC data are AngelList and Crunchbase. If you are looking more for continual curation of analysis from industry leaders then I would recommend the Mattermark Daily. It's a daily newsletter curated by Nick Frost and the Mattermark team with the day's best posts from both investors and operators. It's free and is an absolute must read. Hopefully this helps!

Hey! This should help you get started... There are various parts to your service and they should be considered as separate services: 1. Create the Wordpress website (one-time) 2. Create content for the blog (recurring) 3. Social Media Management (recurring) 4. YouTube account managment (recurring) Each of those should have its own price, for example: $3,000 dollars for the website design and setup (this will vary depending on your experience and how much it will be worth to your client). Websites range from the very low end to over $100,000 dollars depending on what they do and what they will be used for. The other three services are recurring services that should be paid in a monthly basis because it implies constantly adding content. You should practice your skills as soon as possible to start getting better at each. That way you will start seeing how much time and effort it actually takes you and eventually you'll find the correct value for your work. I hope this helps you, let me know if you have any additional questions! Cheers!

Hey! That's a great question and of course there are many answers but I'll give you my two cents based on my expertise and hope it will help you on your way... If you want to drive traffic the fastest way possible, you can use various paid methods like Facebook Ads or Google Adwords. They are both very good tools and the cost per clic is quite low compared to other traditional methods of getting "eyes". I prefer these methods when starting out because SEO can take a long time and effort, while paid advertising can get you in front of the right people. You can choose specific demographics by age, interests, behaviors, etc and show your work to people who may actually be interested. It is important to have a purpose for all that traffic: think about how you are going to convert them to customers (ideally that is what you want). Then create a way for them to convert on your site. ONLY then, pay for traffic. As far as SEO goes, it is good to do it anyway because you'll reap the benefits later. Make sure you create quality content that people actually want to consume (read, watch, listen to, etc). I hope this helps, let me know if you need additional assistance.

Unless you have a need to show a substantial equity, usually starting the corporation (assuming that's the type of entity you want) with $1,000 is ok. Then the remainder ($49k in this case) is entered as a loan. That way, once you have the cash back in the business account, you're not worried about taxes and can be repaid the loan directly.

It always comes down to taxes. What is your goal? Save on taxes? if it is then profit sharing is a must. Making the company employee owned gives a huge tax break, while giving out equity forces to you and your employees to submit that as assets at the end of each year, while corporate team has submit an evaluation form to the IRS for any adjustments, issues, or stock hikes or drops. Equity keeps employees for longer, but so do 'bonuses' so answer should be based off tax benefits.

If you're prepared to hire a professional, then I'd be happy to help locate or create a brand name for your service. However, it seems presumptuous to pick a title for a book I have neither written nor read. Since I don't know your project or your audience, should I really be urging you to live with some brand identity for the next decade – a name I'd just be pulling out of thin air during 20 seconds of thought? I take naming seriously. Seriously enough to want to familiarize myself with the project being named. That should be the bare minimum, right? Brainstorming, research, consultation, and procurement usually span at least a couple of weeks. Here at Clarity.fm, I find that phone calls are too short for such a task. But a Clarity.fm call can be useful. I find 15 minutes is usually enough time to offer feedback on a caller's own name ideas, suggest new directions for brainstorming, give advice on purchasing the domain, etc. If I can help, let me know.

This product is very interesting. I would love to learn more. I am Arizona based Strategy professional, as in I am an actual graduated strategy professional, not just a self touting one. I honestly, don't see any difference in what you are selling whether is white label or not. I know there is a fundamental difference in use, but when it comes to selling this companies the white label is a huge plus, seems like you just need a good sales team. I would love to help you get a foot in the U.S. starting with Arizona, since this is where I live. Give me a call or email and I will gladly follow up. Lead generation is relatively easy, is capturing good leads that are easily closed is different, the beauty of b2b is that you can call, visit, email, schedule...

I specialize in handling digital marketing with small businesses in Toronto. Most of the small business owners have a limited budget and they are overwhelmed by the fact as to how they can compete with the bigger players out there. The solution is to use a combination of inbound & paid marketing strategy to amplify your efforts. You can start by contacting bloggers to write about the cereals. You need to create some sort of an offer to promote the product and generate new customers. When choosing online advertising you need to target long tail keywords and avoid spending your money on broad search terms. If you want to discuss further please send me a message or call me here and I will be happy to help you.

A lot of people see still see diversity as a Nice to Have, rather than something that affects their bottomline. Although most coverage and research have been done primarily by niche market groups, even McKinsey early in 2015 put out this big report, touting real data: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/why_diversity_matters. If you'd like to discuss diversity hiring practices through various stages, shoot me a call!

yes. Many jurisdictions have rights in a mark that arise simply from use. That said, it is not the same as the rights flowing from registration and in some jurisdictions, it is not available. A quick call to a trademark lawyer should allow you to clear up if the rights you get through use are sufficient for your purposes. Note: Branding and brand strategy is the most overlooked aspect to starting a business and a little expense now can save you a whole lot of problems later on.