Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

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Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby northern_mantis on Thu Oct 26, 2017 2:40 am

Hi all

Thought I would start a thread to have a moan about employment and workshop some ideas for escape. I’m trying to turn my hobby in to a living but don’t like charging large amounts for training (also sometimes teach for free), so really need to look at other income streams. At the moment I’m sketching some ideas for a traditional martial arts based clothing brand. My business is totally non- digital, no website or social media, in fact I only use my landline number although I do order flyers and business cards online.

And yeah, employment sucks! A decade of no pay increases so getting worse off each year and struggling more all the time despite massive shareholder bonuses. And impossible work targets that when reached they just move the goal posts further away so you’re in a constant state of failure which is pretty soul crushing.

Would be good to hear other experiences/ideas.......
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby Bao on Thu Oct 26, 2017 3:11 am

Oh, I feel for you. :(

I've managed to be self-employed for six years now and I would never ever want to work for someone else again. Just keep on working on it, test different things and don't give up. 8-)

I've tried selling products, but the margins are usually too small. too much work for too little money. So I only do services, mainly SEO and internet marketing. If I did clothes or sports stuff, I would start off using a B2B Wholesale Overstock company. I just made the homepage for such a company, Yabelo.com (still working on some minor issues on it), you could check it out if you want, but I think you would probably need something closer to you. Maybe Brandsdistribution is a better choice, more products on the pages. This type of overstock company sell original high quality items to up to 95% discount compared to the regular prices in the stores. So you can sell it with quite a good margin. Later when you have regular customers in sports wear, you could launch your Martials Arts products brand. That's just an idea. :)
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby northern_mantis on Thu Oct 26, 2017 3:25 am

Thanks, that’s really interesting. When you actually do the maths on selling products you do need to be incredibly successful to make a living. One of my current colleagues runs a crafts business on the side and makes incredibly beautiful things but her prices just get driven down to the point she’s losing hope.

Congrats on making it yourself, that’s awesome. Definitely with you in terms of not giving up, as long as I’m not borrowing money I can keep trying stuff without really failing as such.
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby Bao on Thu Oct 26, 2017 4:06 am

northern_mantis wrote:Thanks, that’s really interesting. When you actually do the maths on selling products you do need to be incredibly successful to make a living. One of my current colleagues runs a crafts business on the side and makes incredibly beautiful things but her prices just get driven down to the point she’s losing hope.


:( I do think that everyone should have integrity and do things that you really love. On the other hand, it's good to have a second plan or something that brings in the cash. Like selling both something more mainstream and something more expensive, high quality. You can have two different brands if necessary. If you get stuck with one idea, you can easily fall if reality turns against you. It's good to have strong clients, but if you have many small different clients, you've spread the risk. So just do a little here and there, whatever you can do to make some money. You can start testing different ideas as employed and see what you want to go with.

Congrats on making it yourself, that’s awesome. Definitely with you in terms of not giving up, as long as I’m not borrowing money I can keep trying stuff without really failing as such.


Thanks. 8-) I spent almost nothing to build up my business. And I've hardly spent anything on own marketing, maybe a total of $600 so far. I just learned through work what I needed to know and used forums and social media. A couple of years later I lost a lot of money on investments, but that's another story. ;) But I enjoyed that ride as well.
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby yeniseri on Thu Oct 26, 2017 7:51 am

Very hard but only certain special people can navigate the highs and lows of a business cycle. Add one's significant other and children and a whole nutha' dimension will present itself.
When I was younger and unmarried, I was making money during the summer months playing in a band and that 4-5 months was enough to last the rest of the year then I had a part time job to supplement the income. Then when you have a girlfriend/wife and stuff happens then you need to get a permanent fixed abode then the crap begins ;D One has just added at least 20K to the mix and that does not comes out of one's arse ???
CMA in reality was never meant to be an income generator but I can see how some people market their art to attempt to grab onto a modern audience that will generate a living above an beyond their wildest dreams. I can see it with TKD/Karate because there are levels of grading that implied a certain skill set to reach that epitome of skill, expertise and knowledge. CMA, as presently presented to a greater audience, does not have that graded base of knowledge to compete especially with terms lacking in present day understanding of skill. Just me!

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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby Patrick on Thu Oct 26, 2017 8:22 am

Yes, corporate work is one of the most evil things concived coated with sugar, because it makes buying Ipads and fancy things possible.

I tried to get out of it multiple times now with modest success. Reason even demanded that my wife and me had to leave our dream location in the country side to get some "good paying" jobs in a profession we really do not want in the city. But we made a deal to make some money for a few years and try moving there again. So I wish you good luck in your endeavours!
Last edited by Patrick on Thu Oct 26, 2017 8:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby everything on Thu Oct 26, 2017 10:10 am

I'm working on some data analysis software.

(Bao, do you have any data issues with the marketing?)
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby Bao on Thu Oct 26, 2017 12:06 pm

everything wrote:(Bao, do you have any data issues with the marketing?)


What do you mean? Why? No problems here.

...Though I have been thinking about looking for someone good on making analysis software... A future project though...
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby northern_mantis on Thu Oct 26, 2017 12:32 pm

yeniseri wrote:Very hard but only certain special people can navigate the highs and lows of a business cycle. Add one's significant other and children and a whole nutha' dimension will present itself.
When I was younger and unmarried, I was making money during the summer months playing in a band and that 4-5 months was enough to last the rest of the year then I had a part time job to supplement the income. Then when you have a girlfriend/wife and stuff happens then you need to get a permanent fixed abode then the crap begins ;D One has just added at least 20K to the mix and that does not comes out of one's arse ???
CMA in reality was never meant to be an income generator but I can see how some people market their art to attempt to grab onto a modern audience that will generate a living above an beyond their wildest dreams. I can see it with TKD/Karate because there are levels of grading that implied a certain skill set to reach that epitome of skill, expertise and knowledge. CMA, as presently presented to a greater audience, does not have that graded base of knowledge to compete especially with terms lacking in present day understanding of skill. Just me!

Being of a wild ??? nature unencombered by societal bullcrap is a great tool in surpassing norms that are really made to tame the multitude.


I hear you man, family isn’t cheap! Sounds like you had a good thing going with the music. Housing is the real big cost, especially in the U.K. where house prices are inflated way beyond the point where the government should have intervened in a major way.

I agree, I think paying to exercise is totally crazy when people can just go out and walk/climb trees etc. so it’s difficult to reconcile that with having a martial arts related business.
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby northern_mantis on Thu Oct 26, 2017 12:36 pm

Patrick wrote:Yes, corporate work is one of the most evil things concived coated with sugar, because it makes buying Ipads and fancy things possible.

I tried to get out of it multiple times now with modest success. Reason even demanded that my wife and me had to leave our dream location in the country side to get some "good paying" jobs in a profession we really do not want in the city. But we made a deal to make some money for a few years and try moving there again. So I wish you good luck in your endeavours!


Thanks very much. That’s quite a sacrifice on your part, hope you make it back to where you’re meant to be. I’m trying to keep very low living costs and not get caught up in spending every penny on tech toys and expensive coffees, will hopefully lessen the risk of being a wage slave for life. If I could talk to my 16 year old self I would say save half of everything you earn and invest it for as long as you can rather than drinking it all away.
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby grzegorz on Thu Oct 26, 2017 5:30 pm

I would love to be self-employed. I have a part time union job and if I could find work to do on my own I would gladly keep it that way because my benefits would be taken care of.
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby Bao on Fri Oct 27, 2017 6:38 am

yeniseri wrote:Very hard but only certain special people can navigate the highs and lows of a business cycle. Add one's significant other and children and a whole nutha' dimension will present itself.



Nothing worth fighting for is easy. (And fighting means that you need to learn how to handle getting knockout then and then... ) But anyone can learn how to become a fighter.

I've had many years of depression and I tried various things before I found what I am good at and before I really tried my wings. First, I started way too late. Most people I work together with, or work for, started when they were at least ten years younger than me. And second, they've all had support and was raised in a certain type of family. But I can honestly say that I have a completely detrimental family background for doing business. I have had zero support from family or friends. I also have personality traits that is way off and detrimental for doing business. And I started from absolutely nothing. So I certainly don't belong to those certain special business peoples. I am just on the very opposite end of everything you could possibly associate with a business person. So if I can make it anyone can make it. And this is the absolute truth. If you don't know what to do and how, then learn what to do and how to succeed. There are no excuses. It's just a learning process.
Last edited by Bao on Fri Oct 27, 2017 6:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby everything on Fri Oct 27, 2017 6:49 am

Bao wrote:
everything wrote:(Bao, do you have any data issues with the marketing?)


What do you mean? Why? No problems here.

...Though I have been thinking about looking for someone good on making analysis software... A future project though...


well basically when you do the marketing, how effective is the measurement of the efforts/conversions/results? you might use google analytics, crm, etc., but are all the data challenges well addressed? why do you want to make analysis software? presumably to solve some unmet challenges?
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby Bao on Fri Oct 27, 2017 6:59 am

everything wrote:
Bao wrote:
everything wrote:(Bao, do you have any data issues with the marketing?)


What do you mean? Why? No problems here.

...Though I have been thinking about looking for someone good on making analysis software... A future project though...


well basically when you do the marketing, how effective is the measurement of the efforts/conversions/results? you might use google analytics, crm, etc., but are all the data challenges well addressed? why do you want to make analysis software? presumably to solve some unmet challenges?


I use different software depending on different .... "things"... What is most important for what I do is the search engine positions and incoming links data.

I'll send you a PM to not derail the topic. 8-)
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Re: Employment sucks/business ideas workshop

Postby Bao on Thu Nov 02, 2017 4:28 am

Loved this paragraph! 8-)

35 Things No One Told You About Becoming “Successful”

5. YOU HAVE EVERY ADVANTAGE TO SUCCEED
It’s easy to talk about how hard our lives are. It’s easy to talk about how unfair life is. And that we got the short-end of the stick.
But does this kind of talking really help anyone?
When we judge our situation as worse than someone else’s, we are ignorantly and incorrectly saying, “You’ve got it easy. You’re not like me. Success should come easy to you because you haven’t had to deal with what I’ve gone through.”
This paradigm has formally become known as the victim mentality, and it generally leads to feelings of entitlement.
The world owes you nothing. Life isn’t meant to be fair. However, the world has also given you everything you need. The truth is, you have every advantage in the world to succeed. And by believing this in your bones, you’ll feel an enormous weight of responsibility to yourself and the world.
You’ve been put in a perfect position to succeed. Everything in the universe has brought you to this point so you can now shine and change the world. The world is your oyster. Your natural state is to thrive. All you have to do is show up.


https://medium.com/the-mission/35-thing ... 7f91d36611
Last edited by Bao on Thu Nov 02, 2017 4:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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