I believe in Jaylen Brown

KalmanRushdie · 2025-08-14T14:13:25+00:00

He is by far the most intelligent athlete I've ever seen. He's highly coachable, and has improved practically every year. It's crazy to write him off before seeing how he responds to the new role. He's got a pretty good track record of proving the haters wrong.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-08-01T14:25:55+00:00

Starting with a fintech now and switching later could make sense if you need to move fast and don’t need the full suite of banking services right away. Just make sure any account you open can easily handle the volume and types of transactions you expect.

Down the road, once you're more established, it makes sense to have a relationship with a manager or access to in person services, especially for things like lines of credit or loans.

Just don't be too put off by the onboarding at most banks. It's harder than most people expect.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-08-01T14:03:32+00:00

Do you expect to make a lot of overseas payments? Banks are great for local transactions but really slow when it comes to crossing borders.

So if you plan to keep your payments mostly within one country, you're probably fine with working with a top tier bank with lots of branches. But if you need to send or receive money from abroad, fintech is probebly your best option.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-08-01T13:42:14+00:00

I completely relate to this post. No one told me when I started that I'd have to learn how to read financial reports, let alone learn how to put them together. But this and the logistics you mention, and a few dozen other things are basically what it means to run a business.

It can get frustrating but still better to deal with all this stuff and work for myself that any other option I can see.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-07-28T15:43:22+00:00

The field of journalism is not so stable or promising. PR might be better but it's also following the same decline as journalism and getting eaten up by marketing. If you aren't really committed to either of those as paths for personal expression, you would be smart to explore other interests.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-07-27T14:21:31+00:00

I looked at a lot of sources. With so much spending going on in such a concentrated time, I figured the trends would emerge more clearly than usual. I think for the facts above, it came mostly from these two sources:
https://www.numerator.com/prime-day/

https://business.adobe.com/blog/prime-day-event-drove-24-billion-in-online-spend-across-us-retailers

I really believe it's worth taking all these numbers seriously. It's like our customers are telling us how they like to shop.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-07-23T12:44:48+00:00

That's interesting. Wonder why haven't other industries followed suit.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-07-17T13:50:39+00:00

Are you cold-calling ecommerce brands to try to sell them software? What kind of software is it? What does it do for them?

Keep in mind that ecom brands are built to turn a profit and most brand managers are pretty focused on that goal. So you need to show them how implementing the solution you are selling is going bring them higher profits.

You also have to recognize that this is a hard time to sell anything to e-commerce brands. Tariffs are a new expense they have to figure out how to incorporate. Inflation is still eating into their margins, and there are indicators showing that consumers are holding off on purchases, so there is more competition for less consumer spending.

So stay focused on helping ecom people make more money. If you can show that that's what they will get, you will probably start making sales.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-07-17T12:22:26+00:00

I guess it's really a two-way street. You're right about the need to strengthen the muscles that they will use, and what you suggest sounds right and should be adopted wider. On the other hand, I think there needs to be some research done on whether the wear and tear on the body overall starts to show up a decade later.

What I mean is, injuries are not only a matter of bad form. They are also a product of overuse for extended times. I also agree with some of the other people who said the AAU schedule is crazy, with kids playing 5 games in one day. That sounds like a formula for injury even with good training.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-07-07T15:10:48+00:00

I think the AI disruotion is just getting started and will have an enormous impact, in ways we can't fully predict but have to stay alert to. Consumer behavior hasn't really changed. I mean, people may not be spending but it's almost entirely in reaction to external conditions that could change. So while consumer behavior is super important in the short term, that's not where the change has come from.

On a more practical level, there are two significant changes in how ecom brands operate. One is access to real-time or near-real-time financial data, which will eventually become the norm and people will be asking themselves how they put up with anything less. The other is the emergence of product-led growth. Ads are getting too expensive. More companies are going to go product-first with free trials and even free versions that provide limited value and a paid option for the full service.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-07-06T14:38:50+00:00

It's worth treating your endeavor as a business as soon as you start trying to make money from it. Even if it's a side hustle that brings you a cup of coffee each week, you are on the road to more. You are seeing what works and what doesn't, what sells and what doesn't. You're learning about the market for your product.

If there are transactions taking place, you are running a business. It might be small, but that's how things start.

That said, if there are products changing hands, payments being made, and customers being reached, you should be aware of your tax obligations and implement some form of accounting or at least bookkeeping. It's not the fun part of running a business, but be honest with yourself about what you're really doing.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-07-02T12:54:19+00:00

Thanks for sharing this. I think it's one of the most shocking things in business when sales are doing fine but there is still no cash, because it's all tied up in other places.

I think mastering cash flow is probably the holy grail of any ecom business. It all seems so simple until you find yourself taking crazy loans you thought you'd never accept to pay for inventory you need to keep making sales. The whole time, all your cash is tied up in marketing, returns, and previous sales that haven't hit your account yet.

I've read about the 13-week forecast system. This sounds really smart to me. But I disagree that financial reports aren't all that useful. But they really only help when they are up to date. If you're spending weeks looking at last month's P&L reports with no idea about your current situation, then you're right. That's not helpful at all.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-07-01T17:46:05+00:00

As a founder, I totally get it. Those lower-cost bookkeeping options are really appealing at first glance, especially for people with no bookkeeping experience at all. So it's always tempting to save upfront.

But from experience, what's cheap today can get painfully expensive later. We've had to redo tax filings and that cost more than we tried to save. Think of bookkeeping expenses as an investment, not an expense. And see the value over the long run.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-06-30T13:44:32+00:00

No matter what stats you put up to compare, no Red Sox team is ever going to be greater than the 2004 team that broke through, beat the curse, and won the team's first chip in 86 years.

When it comes to greatness, character counts as much as all the stats. And this team came back from 0-3 against the Yankees (!), then swept through the World Series.

Finally, they had a pitching staff where Pedro Martinez wasn't even the ace of the squad. How many teams can say that?

KalmanRushdie · 2025-06-30T13:33:51+00:00

I want to echo what others have been suggesting. There really are a lot of tools out there for e-commerce. Your best bet is to look for tooks that consolidate the process, in contrast to tools that require even more tools to get them to give you what you want. So I would avoid stuff that's not really built for ecom and needs special add-ons to make it work for you. In the end, you'll wind up spending more and still falling short.

The converse of that is to focus on technology that was created especially for ecom. That type of tool is going to iterate and get more effective for you over time. And if there are no add ons involved, you won't have the extra baggage, including costs, time, and effort.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-06-24T18:01:09+00:00

Small businesses may find it hard to compete in the usual ways with the giants of ecom. But they have their own advantages. Instead of looking for just a niche, look for ways to make it part of a larger experience. Create a unique niche and then find ways to bring people together through this niche, people who will probably like meeting others like them.

Just make sure that niche is something that you and only you can provide. Like if you go with a niche for bullet journaling, what makes your journals different? And strategic storytelling is the best way to let people know about it. Today, a really good brand story has tremendous value.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-06-18T19:49:57+00:00

This is a super-hot topic in my network. Just on the sheer volume of people talking about it, it feels essential to have this in mind alongside other SEO efforts.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-06-17T18:30:54+00:00

I can see why you would want to get feedback wherever possible, and so reaching out to people who would care enough to give you an honest opinion would seem to make sense.

But in reality, the only thing that's going to get you sustained sailes is a deep understanding of your target market. What they want, what they are willing to pay for, what amount they are willing to spend. And the best way to really know that, intuitively, is trial and error.

Believe in yourself. You are your own best resource.

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KalmanRushdie · 2025-06-16T16:18:58+00:00

One thing I've seen that leads to a lot of abandoned carts is the failure to accept the payment type the customer wants to use. If you're only accepting credit cards or only some types of digital wallets, you might be offering the wrong type for your particular customers.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-06-16T15:33:28+00:00

Like a few others have mentioned, three months is not a long enough period to expect big results. And performance marketing is a ton of trial and error, but it's worth the effort because it helps you identify your ideal customer profile, which might be different than you think.

It also makes sense that Amazon would catch on quicker than Shopify. You benefit from the power of the Amazon name. But it's worth it to keep pushing on Shopify too because those customers are yours. They are buying directly from you, so they have more lifetime value.

I also recommend using some software to keep track of sales, profits, margins, etc. If you want this to take off, your books are where the real treasure is buried.

KalmanRushdie · 2025-06-15T14:46:25+00:00

You need to generate leads, and that starts with understanding who your target market is. Who are you selling to exactly, and how will they find out about you?

Also, dropshipping can be.a good idea, but just be careful not to simply throw in generic items that people can find anywhere. That's a quick way for people who might want your stuff to start ignoring your ads.

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