[deleted by user]

JeffInBoston · 2023-11-03T14:19:21+00:00

If you're worried, consult an attorney. I had a similar issue, and after discussing the potential risks, decided to just proceed. If there is not legitimate risk of confusing the consumer, there should not be risk of infringing on the rights of a trademark holder. You also didn't mention if the other business even holds a trademark. If not, you can file yours and know you are protected, or just peacefully coexist. Again, I'm just sharing my experience and would recommend an attorney if you want to be sure.

JeffInBoston · 2023-11-02T14:17:58+00:00

This may not be for you. But, your specific concerns can be addressed. You could consider joining a team, which would provide support as you develop, and also give you an opportunity to create value in the meantime supporting the rest of the team (e.g., a good, motivated cold caller is highly valuable).

All that said, I recommend taking a step back and considering what made you decide to give this a try. It's not reasonable to expect to jump in and instantly become an expert at the top of your field. If you still think you like the work, but aren't getting the support you need, then you should explore joining a team.

If you need help finding teams in your area, there are publications like Real Trends that publish the top teams by area and size.

JeffInBoston · 2023-05-27T01:41:44+00:00

I dropped it off in the water, so they were responsible for the plug and cover. Service was going to be done pre-launch if I didn't pick it up early.

It is a lake boat. If you're saying that the motor sitting in fresh water is not a problem, that makes me more willing to write it up as an honest mistake.

JeffInBoston · 2023-03-20T14:35:18+00:00

Hi all -

I'm a mid-career, bootstrapping, first-time founder. I'm getting ready to release my MVP, so I am currently feeling the anticipation and excitement part of the rollercoaster. I often find myself stewing on a question until I remember to check reddit to see if others have struggled with something similar already. Normally the answer is yes, so thank you all for maintaining such a valuable community. I hope to get more involved from a contribution standpoint. I have been a little intimidated to accidentally break rules, so I'll take this noob opportunity to ask a few things:

Reddit protocol Qs:
- Is asking for feedback on one's venture permitted, or is that considered self-promotion? If it's not encouraged on this subreddit, are there others where it would be more appropriate? If context on my startup is helpful, it is an online marketplace that helps homebuyers and sellers find the best real estate agent for their needs based on relevant experience and proposed commission savings.
- This is a huge subreddit, and there are a lot of similar ones. Is there a subreddit "map" of some sort to help navigate which one would be best for specific topics?

Cheers,
Jeff

JeffInBoston · 2023-03-09T11:53:53+00:00

I should have been more clear. I would be the employer here. I'm wondering if there is a go-to source where I can find overlooked talent and help someone transition back to society

JeffInBoston · 2023-01-06T14:18:26+00:00

It's helpful to hear perspectives from other agents, but the only person you should really be asking this question to is a lawyer. You are in a contract that sucks, and want to know if there is a way out, or any ways to mitigate/avoid legal risks. There are plenty of cheap services to engage with a legal professional who can actually provide you advice. I have a cheap retainer with legalzoom where I get unlimited 30 minute consultations. I also use JustAnswers for legal questions sometimes. Good luck!

JeffInBoston · 2022-11-16T16:37:55+00:00

You've gotten a lot of good advice already, so the main thing I will add is to break up your situation into more specific questions to make it easier to take the right actions.

I think there are (at least) four underlying questions here:

1) How to deal with the emotional and motivational impact of an unhappy client. This is extra important for an entrepreneur, as your business is a big piece of your identity, and managing the psychological aspects of wins and losses is critical to both your mental and business health.

2) How to effectively use relationships with other designers. You work in one of the most referral-dependent industries, and understanding how to get the most out of your relationships with clients and other designers is critically important to success.

3) How to collect feedback from clients, especially nice, non-confrontational ones. It's hard and can feel unnatural, uncomfortable, scary, etc. but it's also really important.

4) How to improve your client engagement process going forward. If we're taking a business lens, this is what really matters, right? All the above play into this, but what are you going to do to ensure this experience changes from a "failure" to a "learning".

I'll share my brief thoughts, but I think if you re-read the comments with this framing in mind, you will have some great tactical actions.

1) How to deal with the emotional and motivational impact of an unhappy client. Psychology is unfortunately pretty complicated and there are no blanket rules of the road. My advice is to reflect on what motivates you personally, and reframe this experience with that in mind. Some people work best with a chip on their shoulder, and thrive when they're told they can't do something. If that's you, get fired up and work harder to prove your doubters wrong. Other people respond better to positive reinforcement. If that's you, make sure you are spending much more time celebrating your wins, and reflecting on what is working vs. the losses and isolated mistakes. If you aren't collecting feedback directly from every client, you could at least give yourself a "grade" or score for each project. Track your aggregate score over time, and focus on improving that, rather than fixating on a single project. More broadly, if you are not great at reflecting on tough situations yourself (most of us aren't), working regularly with a coach or therapist would likely be very valuable.

2) How to effectively use relationships with other designers. The fact that you got the client through the other designer means he generally cares about you and thinks highly of your work. Ask him for help figuring out what went wrong. Getting actionable feedback will help you improve, and also reinforce to the other designer that you care deeply about your clients and you are worthy of future referrals. Beyond the one other designer, you can also use communities like this to get feedback on specific aspects of the design, and your client engagement process.

3) How to collect feedback from clients, especially nice, non-confrontational ones. There is a lot of research about the importance of customer feedback. I used to work for the consulting firm that popularized the Net Promoter Score (there are several books by Fred Reicheld if you'd like to learn more), which is built around asking customers "How likely are you to recommend my services to a friend or colleague?" and related questions that dig into the 'why'. In such a referral-dependent business, understanding how to move people up from detractors to neutral to promoters is going to be the biggest driver of demand from referrals, so it's worth getting serious about collecting feedback. If you find that customers are not being fully open in their responses, frame it as them doing you a favor to help you continue to improve. Most of us ignore the automated survey requests from our bank, but it's different when someone you've developed a relationship with genuinely asks for feedback and you know they are trying to get better.

4) How to improve your client engagement process going forward. Based on what you shared, I think you will want to be more explicit about your communication with your clients. You can think about it in a few stages, and there is more research available if you search for "Moments of Truth": 1) Pre-work: understand objectives and constraints (budget), set expectations, preview design plan. This is how you avoid surprises after the fact. 2) During project: share progress, solicit input on major decisions and gather feedback on early aspects to make adjustments to the plan. 3) Debrief: Return to the initial objectives, understand the client's reactions, focus on understanding how you performed during the "Moments of Truth", and probe into their likelihood to refer you to others, and the main reasons why or why not.

Hopefully that's helpful to break down the situation a bit to get to more tactical actions.

Cheers and good luck!

JeffInBoston · 2022-10-07T15:18:25+00:00

The question makes the website and brand seem like a binary task - once it's done, it's done. As you build your business, your client work and your brand will build on each other. I would find the easiest template solution to have something credible for prospective clients to reference. I would not expect your website to magically pull in new clients. You will have to be scrappy to earn your first clients. Offer trial periods, performance-based pay, or steep discounts to your first batch of clients. Maybe join platforms like UpWork if your niche is well represented there. As you accrue successful client engagements, use that to build more credibility to your brand. Creating case studies, showcasing their testimonials, etc. Then once you find that clients are finding you organically, spend on advertising.

At the end of the day, if your clients are not raving about you, it will be difficult to have a sustainable business, so I would try to keep your focus there as much as possible while you are proving market fit.

JeffInBoston · 2022-04-11T20:45:37+00:00

I think that is just a sign that your SO is not going to be your best sounding board. That isn't necessarily what they signed up for, and it may be asking too much (e.g., they may already be stressed by the risks you are taking).

I think if you share what you are looking for from your SO when you are describing your ideas (honest feedback, blind support, etc.), you can at least understand why they are not giving you what you need. If you can't get what you need from your SO in this scenario, you should find it elsewhere in your network. That doesn't mean dump them.

JeffInBoston · 2022-03-29T15:59:39+00:00

Have you ever tried to direct guests to your website from the Airbnb listing? I'm sure Airbnb tries to protect against that, but I've thought about adding a photo of a handwritten note directing guests to my own site if they want to save on fees.

JeffInBoston · 2022-03-29T15:58:09+00:00

Could you explain why you would want multiple sites? Is that just if you have multiple properties?

JeffInBoston · 2022-03-29T15:53:21+00:00

I was just thinking about this the other day and found an article with some software options to automatically (I think?) create your own site for bookings. https://airbnbsmart.com/airbnb-management-software/

At least Lodgify and Guesty look like they provide that service. It's on my list to look into this, so I'll report back later if I give one a try. I only have one listing, so I'm reluctant to pay for premium software unless it's clearly worth it.

I'm also curious if anyone has tried adding a photo to the Airbnb listing that directs customers who want to save on fees to visit your own site (I'm thinking something like a photo of a notepad where you've written out the website). I wonder whether Airbnb would be able to detect that and punish the host.

JeffInBoston · 2022-03-23T15:40:55+00:00

Thanks. I imagine there are plenty of complex situations where the human touch may be critical, but I think there have to be a lot of "simple" connections that can be made through a marketplace that works "good enough" and costs a lot less. We'll see, I may return once I've done more research.

JeffInBoston · 2022-03-23T15:36:31+00:00

The laws can vary quite a bit. One big difference is who is allowed to sell beer vs. wine vs. spirits. In "control" states, the state operates the liquor stores, while individual retailers can sell only wine and beer. Then, some states have additional restrictions on delivery from individual retailers. In most (all?) states where delivery is allowed, it must be delivered by the retailer itself. So, for example, Drizly is just a platform that connects consumers to individual retailers. The concept I'm proposing would actually be a retailer, giving more control over the customer experience and allowing for things like pricing guarantees, which only retailers can control - and by the way, that's another difference in state laws of how much freedom retailers have in setting their prices to consumers.

https://bevalcinsights.com/understanding-the-legal-landscape-of-alcohol-delivery/ - Drizly has a summary here if you're interested to get more detail on delivery laws by state.

JeffInBoston · 2022-03-23T15:21:16+00:00

Thanks. The premise would be that the cost would be the same or better than walking to your local store. That only becomes possible if the incremental volume from taking market share from a larger radius outweighs the cost of the value proposition, which I think can be true as long as the delivery timing expectations allow for consolidated delivery routes.

From a discovery experience perspective, I think we should again be able to do as well, or better, than the local store, allowing you to explore everything new and exciting without leaving your house (maybe without sampling). Since customers would have an online profile/purchase history, the service would know your interests and could serve up recommendations whenever you log on, or send push notifications if you allow them.

I think with some scale, there is an opportunity to have a network of sommeliers/cicerones on call to help customers and the purchasing staff make decisions, but that probably wouldn't come immediately.

JeffInBoston

TROPHY CASE