Stop being wishy washy on delivery. Either you can or you can’t. The customer doesn’t care if you can’t drive. I have a courier that does deliveries in-city for me for $12 per delivery. Either establish a deliver charge of $15.00 inside a geographic area and make that part of your quotes price upfront or alter your art pricing to be high enough that you can offer “free delivery”.

But either way, set your policy, get approval upfront, and then stick to it.

Bootstrap it. It will take longer but you won’t have to give up any control to investors. You seem like you’re in a great position. I’d bootstrap the entire thing until I got big enough that someone wanted to buy me out. And I’d let them.

Anybody that actually signs a NNN is a fcuking idiot and their business should fail because of it.

I think you are treading on dangerous ground. My advice would be to seek competent legal advice from a qualified attorney. You can absolutely be sued; for any reason. But if you are the small fish and the other party is a bigger fish, you could lose in many ways just because you’re in the inferior position.

Focus on the positives. You can address every pain point without calling out the competitor. I do it all the time. It works. Your prospective customer will know who you’re talking about. If they don’t, then they don’t have the pain points you’re looking for anyhow.

Farms have animals too, you know. I think being just a vegan restaurant is going to limit your potential customers.

“I’ve spent a decade of hard work and countless hours of research, making relationships, and just figuring things out as I go. Maybe I should write a book or sell a course one it one day. I just don’t have time now. What do you think?”

I think the question at the end is important. it will prompt him. If he persists after the above, simply say, “I don’t know what to tell you. My best advice is to just find your own way by doing things that work best for you.”

How are you currently set up? If you have a legal partnership, you will have to dissolve that partnership and reform, preferably under an LLC or SCorp.

Get the assistance of a lawyer, Enrolled Agent, or CPA.

I am 58. I am finally on the cusp of success. It’s been a ride, and it’s been a bit rough, and it’s been quite discouraging at times. I’ve retooled/refocused my company 3 times. But Q3 of 2023 changed the game and I’m poised to have a monster year in revenue, profit, and overall growth in 2024 and we don’t see this trend slowing down anytime soon. Most people at age 35 can’t even consider themselves “seasoned” yet. Most of your adult life is ahead of you, not behind you. You’re just now “getting ready to get serious”. ;) Keep going forward. That’s all you can do. Keep going forward.

Some of your customers may require you to carry liability insurance to do business with you. I have a 2 million dollar general liability policy with my largest customer as a named party. I also carry 2 million in professional liability as well. I use NEXT and I think I pay just under $100 a month for all of that.