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Exsect Inc.

The Customer-Funded Business - Book Review

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The Customer-Funded Business: Start, Finance, Or Grow Your Company with Your Customers' Cash by John Mullins I was so absolutely excited about this book that I consumed it faster than most books I acquire. However, it left me feeling severely disappointed. Sure, many of the examples given in this book started out solely customer funded. But ALL examples ended up acquiring investors and or funds from other sources. The synopsis reads :"Who needs investors?" Apparently, everyone in this book did. The author also completely dismisses bootstrapping. Which in itself was questionable. Sadly, I gained very little from this book. As...

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An Experiment with Paid Instagram Advertising and Etsy

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An Experiment with Paid Instagram Advertising and Etsy

For January 2016 I set a goal to target Instagram accounts with high amounts of followers for paid advertising and gave myself a $200 budget. I personally have 13.7k Instagram followers (@aminabaker.exsect) and have always had great success with sales when posting items on my Instagram account. Why not target a much larger audience that just my personal followers? I contacted Instagram accounts created and managed by private persons who curate handmade items. They offer to feature your item/shop/story for a fee. Usually $15-30 a feature. The fee guarantees the featured spot vs. wishful tagging and crossing my fingers for...

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Big Hat ~ Lots of Cattle : Cow Fund

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My life is considerably different than I could have ever imagined. In 2010 I was living in a city I hated (Las Vegas) surrounded by a depressed, dirty community and was a broke, depressed, alcoholic smoker. It disgusts me to think about and repulses me to type out. It may be cliche, but having children certainly does change you. Although I was rapidly changing years before our daughter Alexandria Hayes was born in 2014, her birth was the shock though my behavior system that I needed. The alcoholism in this family ends with me. The bad decisions end with me....

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The Undeniable Value of Wholesale Accounts

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In the leather industry, maintaining wholesale accounts with your suppliers is an absolute must. With just a little research, you can easily save 30-70% off of MSRP by simply submitting your business articles to your suppliers. As all leather purchasers know, Tandy Leather publishes their retail prices and wholesale prices on their website. You do not need paid memberships to take advantage of the lowest offered prices. You simply need to set up an account with them. Be sure that this account is also tax exempt as the supplies you are purchasing are for resale. Weaver Leather, Zack White Leather...

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You Better Shop Around

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In April of 2014, I owned a considerable amount of Tandy Leather (TLF) shares at $9.63 a share. This holding had served me well since purchasing them in 2012 at a little over $5 a share. However, something happened at Tandy Leather around April of 2014. I started noticing considerable price hikes on items that I had been purchasing for many years. After ruffling through receipts, it became clear that many items had gone up by as much as 50%. Example: 2” Cowhide Strip x 72” - $20 (2006) - $21.99 (early 2014) to $31.99 each (4/23/16) Gross. That was...

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