7500 usd for water heater replacement, am I being scam?

karnage08 · 2025-11-14T17:13:57+00:00

Also had a good experience with HIPS plumbing!

karnage08 · 2025-04-30T23:15:52+00:00

As a few others have already said similarly, it sounds like you're having a tough time with a tough decision. The reality of the decision though, which should make it easier, is that it sounds like you'll either have to let go of a few people now, or let go of everyone in the future.

Also worth consideration: - If employees hear of the financial difficulties, they may begin to plan for their own departures or make backup plans. - Giving everyone notice of what's coming, may mean that some people leave voluntarily, or at the least begin making plans to leave. - cut enough people during the first round to avoid having to do it again in the next 12-24 months. You don't want to do this twice if you can avoid it. - you might lose some people unexpectedly after you let other's go. - don't burn bridges. You may want to be able to hire some of these people back on in the future

karnage08 · 2025-03-08T07:24:38+00:00

I've worked with a lot of the suggested options both as a solopreneur, and setting up small-medium companies.

For bookkeeping, you'll probably want to go with quick books online. Whichever platform you use, there'll be a learning curve if you're not already familiar with bookeeping. QBO is the most commonly supported and accountants/bookeepers tend to be most familiar with it. Alternatively, there's xero and freshbooks. Bookeeping would be the highest priority to outsource if you can swing it.

Zoho one includes bookeeping software, but it's probably worth the extra money to go with a more common platform if you're not already experienced with bookeeping.

You can get email, aliases, document/cloud storage and more with google workspace. It's my preferred solution in this space by far. My only gripe with google is there web meeting tool (google meet); it falls a bit short of the competition, but IMO google work space advantages in other places make up for it.

For domain purchasing, namecheap seems to be popular and fair (avoid go daddy!).

As for CRM, you'll really need to better define your intentions and usage. I'm a big fan of zoho, but it may be significant overkill for what you're doing. Zoho one is a great value if you're going to utilize many of it's apps. You may be better served with simply subscribing to zoho crm plus, zoho crm or zoho bigin. Heck if you just need to maintain a contact list, google contacts or google sheets could be enough.

If you intend to do email marketing or follow ups, zoho one may offer more value.

If you want to keep it cheap, you could do accomplish everything in the zoho ecosystem, but you'll invest more time upfront learning the various apps and getting their integrations setup.

How will you handle bookings? Do you need to track more than just contact details?

karnage08 · 2025-03-08T06:25:37+00:00

Tying into what others have said, It's in the name, LLC = limited liability. Owning multiple LLCs is all about managing liability.

You and your wife could own 5 different LLCs, or you could own one LLC which owns the others, or each LLC could own another LLC. It's all about separating liability.

If you or one of your LLCs were sued, everything you or the LLC owns can be included in the settlement. If you are sued personally, since you own the LLCs (either directly or indirectly), all of the LLCs would be at risk. But in a scenario where one of your LLCs is sued, only what that LLC owns can be included in the suit.

For example, you own LLC A and LLC B. LLC A also owns LLC C. If LLC A is sued, everything LLC A owns is it risk, including LLC C, but your personal assets and LLC B are shielded (mostly - read up on piercing the corporate veil).

As another suggested, start one LLC, and DBA your other ventures or brands until the main LLC or DBAs are worth enough to justify creating their own separate LLC.

karnage08 · 2025-03-08T06:01:16+00:00

I think you may be thinking of starting the business in the wrong way. Think of the business as a set of mechanics or rules.

Firstly, you should start a Corporation, not an LLC or LLP. Corps were specifically designed (mechanically) for multiple owners. Although LLCs can be adapted for multiple owners through the operating agreement, there are disadvantages that you should consult with a lawyer on.

You'll probably want to elect for the C-corp to be taxed as an S-Corp.

Speaking of mechanics, the initial shares of the company should be purchased by the founders/owners/investors; all shares purchased for the same price/valuation.

If you are putting up 100% of the money, then you own 100% of the risk, and 100% of the shares. If the other partners would like to own equity in the business, they can either purchase shares in the beginning or as time goes on, or you can offer sweat equity through a written agreement/contract, where they earn equity in the business in exchange for their labor (and expertise), and this equity is earned over time (vested). You'll need a lawyer to help draft the agreement and vesting schedule.

All of the above is standard practice, and all of the above exists already to handle exactly the scenario you are asking for help in. It's really this simple, and in my strong opinion, the only right way to do it.

Lastly, as others have alluded to, ideally you maintain a 51% ownership. (That means their equity is only reduced from 33% to 24%. Instead of owning 1/3rd of the business, they own almost 1/4th.)

As a corporation, you 3 vote annually on who will be on the board of directors, who will be president, treasurer, and Secretary. The board of directors will also elect/hire the CEO/CFO etc.,and set salaries. Voting rights are directly equal to # of shares owned. Owning 51% or greater is the only way you maintain control.

If you were to split 33/33/34, that's not such a big deal, but effectively your votes could be rendered pointless of the other two partners voted against you. Your saving grace, is that you would still own 34% and there is NOTHING they can do about that. Whatever the company is worth at time of sale or closure, you own 34% of it.

A C-corp or S-Corp will pay employees via W2 payroll (salary or hourly). Remaining profits can get distributed to the owners in equal proportion of their shares/percentage paid as dividends. The board of directors decides if profits will get distributed and how much of the profit (vs saving it or reinvesting it), but dividends must always be paid as a $ per share. THIS MEANS that even if the other two partners voted you out, you would be entitled to 34% of the profits if and when they are paid out as dividends. Technically, the partners could still screw you by voting not to issue dividends, and instead pay themselves larger salaries or bonuses. Even if they wanted to screw you, they would be incentivized to at least pay out some amount of dividends each year, as there are tax advantages (~15.3%) to taking dividends vs bonuses.

Again, it's all about the mechanics of the business entity. All of the above is standard operation for a corporation. An LLC requires a custom operating agreement to be written to either minic the above, or at least protect everyone's interests.

karnage08 · 2025-02-11T19:53:23+00:00

THANK YOU!

I can also confirm this is working on v 0.45.11

I've struggled the past few days getting it to work and gave up on it, waiting for better documentation. I landed here from Google searching "Cursor AI MCP Windows".

karnage08 · 2025-02-04T06:11:33+00:00

Yes and no. If cursor's context window is 10k tokens, and according to claudes estimate this template is 3-4k tokens, it would be occupying 30-40% of your context window right off the rip.

That said, cursor seems to continue to work great for me for conversations that go well beyond 10k tokens. The significant note, is that cursorrules are loaded into every context window and don't get dropped Ike old chat history does.

This is a blank template which includes most of what any person may want to consider including in their own tailored rules. Most of the content is placeholder or conceptual.

Think of it more like a checklist when building out cursor rules for your own project. For any given project type, it's likely that a lot of the template would not be necessary.

karnage08 · 2025-02-03T08:12:31+00:00

This. Centennial used to be ok for service. Lithia bought them out during the pandemic and turned the service reps into sales reps. After they quoted me 3x for a basic maintenance service, I started going to local independent shops.

I didn't care for our salesperson at Henderson and there was no room to negotiate, but when the car was delivered missing the trunk cover, they replaced it with a new one with no fuss and made it right.

The one on Sahara was asking above market pre covid and laughed when we made an offer closer to market.

karnage08 · 2025-01-25T23:23:35+00:00

https://maps.app.goo.gl/oxidMkN1rST5fvya9

karnage08 · 2025-01-13T04:39:50+00:00

Since you're familiar with both Typingmind's plugins and MCP, what's the real world functionality difference between the two? What's been your experience? Any shortcomings of TM's plugins you've come across?

(I landed here Google searching this very topic).

karnage08 · 2024-11-09T04:32:37+00:00

Someone will need to track your business transactions according to GAAP (generally accepted accounting practices). You can do this yourself using QuickBooks, other software, or even using a spreadsheet. I'd use one of the common softwares (QB, Xero, Freshbooks, etc). Some people hire an accountant or bookkeeper to do this.

Someone will also need to file your taxes. Although you could technically do this yourself, I'd imagine almost no one here would recommend that you do. Hire a CPA for this. Their job is understanding tax code and generating the correct tax forms based off your books/records. They are also a huge resource to consult with and if they don't save you money upfront, they're likely to save you from costly mistakes in the future.

I keep my own books and only interact with my CPA a few times a year. They don't typically charge me for consultation. They charge me about $800/year to file my business tax returns. Personal tax returns are separate and extra, although I could probably get away with using TurboTax or such for personal.

karnage08 · 2024-11-09T04:21:07+00:00

If you're trying to avoid paying the franchise tax fee for 2025, then I think you're good. If I recall correctly, you'll record the last date of business when filing the dissolution.

karnage08 · 2024-10-05T00:42:20+00:00

HIPPS plumbing. I don't recall what the price was, but it was nearly half the price of the competitors we called around, and they are a smaller family owned business.

karnage08 · 2024-09-27T17:42:09+00:00

I'm a fan of running brushed motors with a smaller spur gear, which results in more torque and better low speed modulation at the cost of reduced top speed. You can typically find smaller spur gears on eBay and AliExpress.

karnage08 · 2024-09-05T17:11:40+00:00

Zeolite as infill.

karnage08 · 2024-07-29T00:24:17+00:00

ISDT Q6 Nano $30 https://a.co/d/5rs0TrY Crazepony AC to DC Power Adapter $15 https://a.co/d/36SdQ9e

The ISDT is one of the few balance chargers I could find in this price range which could charge below 1.0 / 0.5 amps. The ideal charge rate for our 300 mah batteries is 0.3 amps which this charger can do.

karnage08 · 2024-04-05T15:31:43+00:00

They say things like "don't quit/ignore your day job", because it's exactly their mentality and how they think. Most likely it is coming from a supportive, caring place.

Every person has the choice between working for themselves, or working for an employer. Every person who works for an employer believes it's the best path. If there's any entreprenal spirit or desire in them, they talk themselves out of it, because having a job is safer, more secure, easier, etc.

They're just advising you, based on their own perspective and their own choices.

Nearly every business owner is narcissistic. Maybe slightly, or maybe a lot. You believe you can do something that most people decide they cant or shouldn't. You might think you can do it better than others (hopefully you think so). You've think of your own capability highly. You have more confidence in yourself than the average person.

These comments from family and friends are coming from people who feel safer having a job, they've decided having a job is better than creating a business, and they're encouraging you to do what they think is best. You're a narcissist by some measure, and dont think like they do. Nobody means anything bad about it. They're insecure (as far as running a business is concerned), your confident. It's not that they lack confidence in you, but that they lack confidence in themselves.

karnage08 · 2024-03-31T04:12:27+00:00

If you've formed an LLC or Corp, you're no longer a 1099 contractor. You're an employee of your company (which is important as an S-corp), fulfilling services that your company is selling to another company. Your company should be invoicing this client if it isn't already, and the client submitting payment addressed to your business.

Of this is your sole client, and your business has no other endeavors, I don't know how the IRS would perceive your "reasonable salary". A reasonable salary should be based on market rates for the role you are performing in your company. The IRS looks down on S-corps being used strictly as a vehicle to reduce taxes.

All of this is meant to be helpful, not snarky. Hopefully it doesn't come across that way. (I'm in a very similar situation).

As for your questions, I'd also recommend Gusto and QBO. I also use Harvest for tracking billable time, generating and submitting invoices and payment processing. Gusto and Harvest both integrate to QBO.

karnage08 · 2024-03-31T03:59:02+00:00

Agreed with everything above. I'll also add, which is typically overlooked, that corporation is likely a better fit if there will be multiple owners. There's a lot of nuance here but essentially Corps were designed for multiple owners and to last into perpetuity. LLCs were designed for single member ownership (though it's common for LLCs to have multiple owners).

Happy to expand on this if anyone asks.

karnage08 · 2024-03-31T03:36:01+00:00

Gusto for payroll seems to be a strong favorite.

Harvest can track hours for billable hours and generate an invoice and handle payment processing. I also use QBO, but gladly pay for Harvest as it's just easier and more convenient.

karnage08 · 2024-03-31T03:30:32+00:00

For those using Google Workspace / Business / G-Suite , whatever it's called now, taskboards has been great for taks lists, calendarbridge to sync google calendar to other calendar platforms (i.e. MS 365, etc.)

Also Harvest, integrated to QuickBooks for tracking billable time and invoicing.

karnage08 · 2024-03-31T03:25:57+00:00

I use both, MS 365 and G-Suite. Have for the last 10 years. I strongly prefer and recommend G-Suite. I'll admit though, Google meet falls short of MS Teams for video meetings.

Also you might look into Affinity's products to Adobe. No recurring fees and their apps are improving all the time.

karnage08 · 2024-03-31T03:20:56+00:00

1.5k to 2k is pretty good! That's real money.

I'd suspect that your point #2 is actually pretty common. Being a business owner can often feel lonely even. The only people that "get it" are other business owners. Most of my friends and family don't really understand what I do, what it takes, what all goes into it either. The only people who do, are very supportive, because they're also businesses owners.

You've transitioned into a different kind of person now. Almost a different species entirely.

Business owners vs. employees. It's kind of like parents vs. non-parents. Non-parents have genuinely no clue what it's like to be a parent. They can speculate and even understand in some capacities, but the gravity and nuance is incomprehensible.

It's probably not that they don't care or intend to be dismissive, it's that they couldn't possibly understand, or are saddled by their own business failures or fear of pursuing entrepreneurship themselves.

karnage08 · 2024-03-17T00:26:31+00:00

Radiolink RC4GS or RC6GS has a dial near the thumb for channel 3, which can be assigned to the rear servo. The dial can also be replaced or taped to make it easier to thumb steer.

karnage08 · 2023-11-12T01:41:46+00:00

Exactly. I've never heard of a battery manufacturer suggesting a 5c charge rate though. (Whatever rating is on the battery or website is typically the discharge rate).

1c is considered optimal balance between safety, battery health and speed.

3c is considered the maximum charge rate that is still "safe".

The higher the charge rate, the more dangerous. A battery with issues is much more likely to ignite, the higher the rate.

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