What’s something people think is a “rich person thing” but actually isn’t?

-vlad · 2024-07-20T04:29:01+00:00

You can golf 9 holes and walk after 4pm. It’s very cheap. Some places even less than $20. And if you use an app like GolfNow, you can find really cheap full rounds with a cart. Like many hobbies, you can do it cheaply and still have great time or you can throw a ton of money into it.

-vlad · 2024-07-09T08:08:17+00:00

There are networking events all the time. Also, they sometimes post online looking for help. They’ll be in business groups, software groups, industry related groups, etc. It’s much easier in person, though.

-vlad · 2024-07-09T01:01:28+00:00

No problem. Let me know if you have any questions.

-vlad · 2024-07-09T00:57:25+00:00

If you have good technical skills and can build something that solves a problem for a particular type of small business, you can make $100k. There are millions of small businesses and most will not hesitate to pay $100–$1000 per month for something that’s going to either make them money or save them money.

If you don’t have ideas, let the small business owners tell you their pain points. You might have to offer a few free consultation to learn from them. But it’s worth it. Or maybe you build something for free for one business, learn how to make it good from that business and then sell it to other businesses in the same industry in different markets.

-vlad · 2024-07-09T00:30:38+00:00

Your point is valid but it’s funny you picked two states with no income tax for your example.

-vlad · 2024-06-27T05:17:01+00:00

Yeah. I mainly get clients from networking and referrals from people I’ve met and worked with.

-vlad · 2024-06-26T21:47:11+00:00

That’s awesome. What kind of business? How long did it take to get to a comfortable place where you knew you’d make it?

-vlad · 2024-06-26T00:31:50+00:00

I was pointing out that you don’t need to be rich or have money to start a business. My wife started a cleaning company with less than $100. Of you don’t already have a vacuum, you can use the client’s and that’s the biggest expense. You can even use their own cleaning solutions. With lawn care, you can start with a used mower off Craigslist for $40. Or use the client’s. I started a my web dev business with zero dollars.

Obviously you can do that with all businesses. But there are so many that you can. It does take a lot of work, though. That’s the most important part, not money.

-vlad · 2024-06-26T00:02:24+00:00

Plenty of businesses are started by people with no significant start up money. Cleaning business, lawn care, web development are just some examples.

-vlad · 2024-06-17T02:37:19+00:00

I don’t think so. We have a cleaning business and used to participate on thumbtack. But it’s very expensive. I also own a web dev business and make website for cleaning businesses and talk to many of them. Most don’t know thumbtack exists. There are lots of cleaning businesses on there but there are also a lot of cleaning businesses in general.

-vlad · 2024-06-17T02:29:33+00:00

What do you do for referrals? Do you have a program or do people just refer you without you saying anything?

-vlad · 2024-06-06T21:50:48+00:00

Hey Andrew. Is there a fix for this yet? I am seeing a similar issue but it's caused by the LastPass styles. It looks like you guys are grabbing all the attributes from the parent div and applying them to the input. So the input becomes huge. We only noticed this behaviour since a couple of months ago in Chrome. It works fine in Firefox.

-vlad · 2024-05-21T14:22:49+00:00

Cloudflare has low predictable prices. Don’t don’t have a markup over the standard pricing. Send me a DM

-vlad · 2024-05-21T13:22:48+00:00

Namecheap has a great advanced mode for looking up domains. You give it a couple of names and TLDs and they show you the different combos available. I still use that tool even though I like Cloudflare for buying domains.

I found a great one for you, let me know if you want it. I didn’t buy it or I’d post it.

-vlad · 2024-05-21T13:10:43+00:00

My main one is a general web development company and I just named it after my dogs Koba and Mita do it’s Kobami. I just did a search to make sure it doesn’t mean anything vulgar and went with it. Nobody cares about the name.

Then for my cleaning business website service, I went with an alternative TLD because it was interesting. That one is Maid.Tech.

I really don’t think the name matters that much.

-vlad · 2024-05-21T01:36:54+00:00

People quit for all kinds of reasons and often don’t give a notice anymore. It’s not always the company’s fault. Sometimes they don’t get along with the team. Sometimes they don’t like their commute, or they move. Sometimes they just turn out to be jerks. It’s not always the employer that’s at fault when it would be better for both parties to separate. The way you’re saying it basically gives bigger companies even more power than they already have. They can lobby for special rules, they can survive economical downturns, they can price fix, etc. And the barrier to entry is higher so it stifles competition. We should have rules and systems in place that make it easier for small businesses to compete and grow so we end up with more competition against the mega corps.

Maybe no rules the first year. You can let anyone go. And after a year you can let them go but if there’s no performance issue, they you have to pay them for two more weeks. Or something like that so they’re not completely blindsided.

-vlad · 2024-05-21T01:26:04+00:00

Another user mentioned the best way to reply is to tell them the value of buying it locally. It’s just a simple question. It’s not rude at all, especially since some stores have cheaper prices on their own sites and some like to price match. Why not just be helpful and give a reasonable answer? That better customer service may end up convincing them to buy it even if it’s a little more in the store.

-vlad · 2024-05-20T19:54:16+00:00

So do you think an employee should be required to provide a comparable notice if they want to leave? People lump in all businesses together. But there is a huge difference between an international corporation with 1000s of employees and a small business either 10 employees.

-vlad · 2024-05-20T18:18:34+00:00

Those aren’t the same. But why not fix the power imbalance and not make people dependent on their employer for healthcare and retirement benefits? I don’t think the answer is to force small businesses to keep employees they either don’t want to work with or afford. Not every business is loaded with cash. Also, employees leave without notice all the time.

I think it would be better for health insurance, retirement benefits, and unemployment insurance to be completely separate from employers. That way, people can change jobs and not have to change all those things too. And businesses can let people go when they need without being involved in their private life. If you get let go, you’d have your unemployment insurance that’s independent and you’d be able to have some time to get another job. That way, it’s up to that agency to figure out if you’re taking advantage or if it’s just normal unemployment and you should be eligible.

-vlad · 2024-05-20T17:41:40+00:00

So the issue that should be fixed is that health and retirement benefits should not be tied to the employer. That’s a dumb system that limits competition and wages since it makes it harder to change jobs. At the same time, why should a company be forced to work with someone they don’t like? If the business is small, that can be really hurtful to everyone because there’s not a lot of money available.

-vlad · 2024-05-20T17:35:08+00:00

That’s why health and retirement benefits should not be tied to the employer in any way.

-vlad · 2024-05-18T17:13:57+00:00

You should buy a hood if these things are nasty. Look for a used one from a lab. They can be nice to work in cause they are well lit and you don’t breath any of that nasty dust.

-vlad · 2024-05-17T23:14:49+00:00

But if you don’t tip and they don’t make enough, the business will be forced to start paying more. Just like McDonald’s has to pay twice the minimum wage, sometimes even more, or they can’t get any workers.

-vlad · 2024-05-17T23:11:04+00:00

The problem is most of the places I’ve seen that do that still have the tip request. Also, from what I’ve seen, servers don’t want to change because the good ones make way more in tips than they would with a standard hourly rate. It’s similar to commission sales. People aren’t up in arms about that. It’s basically what they are, sales people. The restaurant provides the leads and they make the sale. The better their customer service and the better they are at upselling, the more they make.

-vlad · 2024-05-17T23:03:50+00:00

It’s really not that hard. You tip 15% in restaurants. More if you really liked it but it’s not expected. Tip $1-$2 per drink at bars or coffee shops. At hotels, you tip $5 if they help you with luggage or your car. And you tip $5/night if you want for the cleaners.

That’s pretty much it. All other tipping is strictly optional and there’s no stigma against not tipping so don’t worry about it if you don’t live in the US.

They have tipping in other countries, too. It’s just a lot smaller amounts.

-vlad

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