Just a personal opinion but I wouldn’t buy a new computer based on one freelance sale.

Awful lot can go sideways between now and end of January.

Would also recommend invoicing in 1/3rds. Better for cash flow. 1/3 up front, 1/3 at the halfway point, 1/3 upon final sign off.

Working for 2 months without any cash incoming is a tough spot. No leverage for you and no skin in the game for the client.

I’d send them a discount code for 50% their next purchase and some nice words (like, actually)

15 employees for a salon is massive. Your labor cost is over 50% which is unsustainable. I’m trying to picture what a salon with 15 staff looks like and I’m having a hard time.

Run the numbers with what 35% labor cost would look like. Then be honest about your operating hours.

If you use a point of sale you should be able to see trends. If you have staff on shift but not cutting hair you have to make cuts (pun not intended).

You likely have a ton of inefficiencies. Maybe lack of systems. For example if you have x1 front counter person and x1 person cleaning shop you would want to automate bookings via online and combine the two roles.

Hard to say exactly without actually seeing your operation.

Big Cartel is more affordable than Shopify. But it has less support via its own app ecosystem.

That said you can integrate just about anything if you ever need to.

For hand made stuff it should be super simple to spin up a website using one of their templates

Up 40% from last year. Zero discounts

Ehhh maybe anglelist. But to list there your product needs to be legit.

What’s the roadblock to just bootstrapping it?

Instead of building an app and competing against companies like All Trails it might be an idea to get your guide certification.

You also need the highest levels of first aid and whatever other certification your local gov requires.

A 10-20k runway is pretty good for guiding. Getting the certs will only put a small dent in that.

You have almost zero overhead and can charge a premium provided you deliver on your promise.

Not only that but you can pre sell with a website. “Booking for summer 2024, early bird special (25% off) if you book now.

Health food vending machines in high traffic areas. Think airports, malls, subway stations….

Early summer was down 15% - 20% YOY. September was on par. Right now we’re up 34% YOY.

On some other sub Reddit a business owner is complaining that this marketing and PR freelancer is bailing after giving him/her $3000k and only working for 2 weeks.

Frankly you would have been better off finishing the project, outsourcing the tedious tasks to speed things along, and pushing back your start date at new job. Win, win for everyone.

Where is your target demo spending their time? If younger demo you should be on Snapchat and TikTok.

Google ads for sure. You can make a campaign to drive online sales. Then look at YOY increase to measure effectiveness.

Assuming using a pick up truck. Maybe a per box price? Just spitballing, $250 = full box, $175 for a half box. $500 if there’s heavy stuff like gravel. +$200 for additional trips.

Target, upper middle class to wealthy folks who will never do this on their own.

Pivot to starting a co-work space

As a few others have mentioned. Simple solution is a google listing with accurate hours, a Facebook page with accurate hours.

Unless you’re wanting to hire someone to manage a website for you I don’t see a use case here. Source: former web designer.

Unless you plan on doing e-commerce. In which case you’d need an employee to handle shipping and fulfillment. Modern Point of Sales like Lightspeed manage inventory as well and it integrates with Shopify. EG: You have 5 Ryobi drills in stock. I buy one via your website, your inventory auto updates showing 4 in stock.

But if online sales are not a concern then I think you’re ok to not have a website.

If something like that shakes you to your core then being in business might not be for you.

That’s incredibly tame.

Wait till someone blasts your business with a bad review (it will happen despite best efforts). What will you do then?