vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
"This isn't as rigorous as it should be, but may offer some useful insight into how big and small companies differ operationally. Putting Apple aside, larger companies tend to sell larger volumes of products (even if they're MRI devices, or turbines) relative to what smaller companies can sell (obviously, in absolute terms as well).  They are also able to negotiate volume discounts as well as payment terms.  This allows them to finance sales through their supply chain.  However, their large direct competitors are able to do the same thing as well.  Competitive forces then drive prices down. Smaller businesses, without these advantages of scale, tend to have to charge higher margins since they have to pay directly (and, if their clients are large businesses, finance the sale). Small businesses still have higher proportional costs of operation.  Sadly, my reference here is a study I performed for the South African Revenue Service about ten years ago, and not available online. However, the time taken by a small business to manage admin, tax, HR is a greater proportion of revenue than for larger companies. If the small business is a start-up with big investment from venture finance, then they could subsidise their selling price, run at a loss and try and gain scale.  Funnily enough, there is a fantastic article on this by Joel Spolsky (Ben and Jerry's vs. Amazon) For the average highly-competitive smaller company, the best choice is to chase design/quality/premium markets in order to justify the higher margins they have to charge.   And that's what makes Apple interesting as a case study.  They were a small company in the presence of giants (Intel, Microsoft, IBM).  They were ""forced"" to concentrate on design and premium markets in order to justify their need for higher margins.  It almost didn't work but then they broke through.  Now they're in the unique position of having gained scale but are still small enough relative to other electronics manufacturers to continue charging that premium (by volume their sales are still relatively small but their margins make them a giant). This type of variation from market to market makes developing some sort of generalised solution very unlikely but the general requirement holds: that smaller companies must charge higher margins in order to create equivalent profits to larger companies which must gain scale through volume."
It's a similar case where you are basically choosing to forgo negotiating price on your own. In the case you describe neither you nor the business are in any way forced to accept the terms being offered to you and presumably you would not if you had certainty of a better price somewhere else. The value being added is that you now have another choice you can consider that you may not have known about and may ultimately be cheaper than each continuing a search on their own even with the lower/higher rates. If continuing to search causes you lost wages or the business lost productivity then the value is in reducing the amount of loss.
Learn to sell yourself (as the smart kid, future Fortune 500 CEO who stays up all night getting things done, etc) * Always aim high in your proposals. You'd be surprised how many people don't negotiate at all. That being said, always put something in your proposal that is a good idea but it beyond what their asking for. If they ask you to come down in price, remove this feature and come down a little bit. * Develop an ability to read how interested a prospect is in your services before you spring the price on them. At your age, I was waiting tables. This helped me to be able to read a customer to determine which waiter they wanted me to be: the attentive one, the high class one, the friend, or the quiet servile. Consider taking on a side job to help you develop this skill. * As I said above, some prospects will sign on the line without negotiating. You might even take two proposals with you into a meeting with a prospect, one priced high and one low, and present the version that matches their interests. Go high if they need something ""right now"". * Remember you are your company's first product. This means also that your time is the company's first commodity. Be open to other things. I have a background in mathematics and am most capable as a software developer and a web developer. But I also help other companies sell and support physical products not at all related to technology. Because it's highly profitable, I do it. * When you're a one person business selling your time at the highest price is the name of the game. But growing your business will require the help of others. I found it helpful to first network with other like minded people and split project money according to skill level and time commitment on a per project basis. This will allow you to take on bigger projects. * But growing the company will eventually require you to hire (or contract) someone at a far lower pay rate than what you're bringing in. The laws of supply and demand require you to do this as a business person if you're to grow the business (so that the business has money beyond what you're being paid).
I agree.  Billing by the hour for a sole-proprietorship is the exception, not the norm.  You either usually sell a product for a fixed price or provide a service via contract for a total sum.  That and the term 'sole proprietorship' doesn't preclude you from having thousand of employees working for you.
Can you estimate the approximate cost of employing one of each? Would they work as contractors, or employees? Glassdoor can be a great resource for estimating the current market for local labor costs.  If you have a sense for the amount of annual revenue each individual could theoretically produce, you can essentially treat their wages as a fixed cost up to the limit of that revenue, then model the incremental cost and margin impact of bringing on additional headcount.   Is there any additional detail you can provide that might help provide guidance on developing a model?
http://www.legalzoom.com/business-management/starting-your-business/turn-your-calling Answering this, but I expect an expert to give an answer with some insight too There are many more steps, but not having done them personally I suggest you read the legalzoom.com site.
First, as noted in the comments, you need to pay attention to your network providers.  If you are unable to pay exorbitant prices out of pocket, then find an in-network medical provider.  if you are unhappy with the in-network provider list (e.g. too distant or not specialists), then discuss switching to another plan or insurer with your employer or broker. Second, many providers will have out of pocket or uninsured price lists, often seen in outdated formats or disused binders.  Since you have asked for price lists and not been provided one, I would pursue it with the practice manager (or equivalent, or else a doctor) and ask if they have one.  It's possible that the clinic has an out of pocket price list but the front line staff is unaware of it and was never trained on it. Third, if you efforts to secure a price list fail, and you are especially committed to this specific provider, then I would consider engaging in a friendly by direct negotiation with the practice manager or other responsible person.  Person they will be amenable to creating a list of prices (if you are particularly proactive and aggressive, you could offer to find out of pocket price lists from other clinics nearby).  You could also flat out ask them to charge you a certain fee for office visits (if you do this, try to get some sort of offer or agreed price list in writing).  Most medical practices are uncomfortable asking patients for money, so that may mean flat refusal to negotiate but it may also mean surprising willingness to work with you.  This route is highly unpredictable before you go down it, and it's dependent on all sorts of things like the ownership structure, business model, and the personalities of the key people there. The easiest answer is to switch clinics.  This one sounds very unfriendly to HSA patients.
Difficult at the start, but keep track of it. One other thing. I do not give discounts of extend favours, but I keep my prices reasonable. [[I was told I am some 25% more expensive than the latest quotes, but I kept on getting work with a high execution to quotation rate.]] Floating prices are impossible to track, manage and justify, people talk to each other, whether you like it or not. Do proper, reasonable calculations and be up front to all about how you work. In contract on paper. It just may be necessary to scale prices from beginner to advanced classes. OK, $50 seems a fair price, I don't live in the States, but about three/four Big Mac's would compare about right. You are NOT selling time, you ARE selling expertise. Decide how much she wants out of it per month. Forget retirement, you live now. This income will also cover other ""invisible"" extraneous work. Determine how much time will be spent in giving lessons. You can only charge for ""visible"" work done. Basic Hourly Rate = Monthly Income / Lesson Hours. Then there's a catch. Research has shown that owners of one man and small businesses spend about 55% of their time in getting new business. So,now. Charged Hourly Rate = Basic Hourly Rate DIVIDED by 45%. This could frighten you, but these are hard commercial facts. Things could appear to be extremely expensive. You will; however; have a solid base from which to decide as you go further. The accounting is a good place to start, but she, you both rather, have to feel good about the rewards and the counter performances. Great success to you both!"
To be honest, if you have to ask tips about taking over your family business, someone really dropped the ball on showing you the business in the first place.     Anyway, learn yourself some basic bookkeeping/accounting.  Money management/tax handling will be something you will need to know, even if you have staff to handle this for you.     Learn the specific product/service/whatever you offer.  Nothing can be worse than having no clue what your product/service does and you're running it.     Shadow the family member(s) that are running it now.  Find out what they do throughout their day involving the business.  Whoever your replacing is the one you should focus on most.     Also make sure you understand your branding, quality, and price measures.  Any basic business class will teach you that branding, quality, and price are the three factors of a business's success.  Where you fail in one, you take up in another.  For instance, Apple has horrible prices.  Extremely expensive.  How do they make it up?  Well, quality is about on par with other products (since they largely come from the same source as competitors), but the iPhone and iPod are well known brands (far more recognized than the smartphone and MP3 player that they are, instead called by the specific product name).  Same with Kleenex.  No one asks for a facial tissue.  They ask for a Kleenex.  That's strong branding that connects the consumer to the product.     Anyway, just make sure you know where your points fall on those three lines in your business.  Improve as you can, but understand where your main fall back is.  Best prices, quality, or most well known?          Lastly, don't doubt that you can do this.  Similarly, don't overcompensate.  Your friends will all ask for deals and discounts and you'd do best to deny them in most cases.  Family will always want a cut and will probably get nasty in some cases (mattering by how you're set up).  When dealing with employees, remember that they work for you:  You're not friends.  Nothing destroys a staff faster than the boss trying to be friends with everyone and ends up promoting the schmoozer.          Eh, not sure what else to toss out.  That covers a lot of bases, but I'm sure I can think of more later.
I think either one would allow for lower pricing tiers as a merchant. I am at 2.5 on my main account.   $0 to $3,000 2.9% + $0.30 $3.20 fee on a $100 sale  $3,000+ to $10,000 2.5% + $0.30 $2.80 fee on a $100 sale $10,000+ 2.2% + $0.30 $2.50 fee on a $100 sale $100,000+ Call 1-888-818-3928
The doing of it, the actual floral design part, is a small part of what that business is going to need. The needs of a small business are huge and varied.  For instance,  somebody will need to do the Quickbooks, handle the register and cash,  handle clients and follow-up.   Do payroll even if it is just the two of you. Handle insurance.  Place orders for inventory, develop relationships with suppliers to keep costs down. Do marketing. Calculate profitability and use that to determine pricing,  specials,  and discounting on bulk orders. Clean the shop and enable your flower arranger to work effeciently.  Need employees?  Then get ready for applications, interviews,  onboarding, reviews,  coaching,  and firing. Create checklists and best practices.  The Small Business Association is your friend. It's a government program that is already paid for by you,  and the employees are generally successful entrepreneurs that just don't feel like doing the 80 hours a week anymore. They will be so happy to mentor you and can really assist if you are looking for a loan to start up.   Small business isn't for everybody.  I think most people would rather work 40 hours a week for somebody else. If none of this scares you off, you might have what it takes. Starting and running a business is incredibly rewarding for me emotionally and financially and I wouldn't trade it for any job on the planet.
What's the primary factor keeping a consumer from handing out fees as liberally as corporations or small businesses do? Power. Can an individual, or more appropriately, what keeps an individual from being able to charge, fine or penalize a Business? If it could be accomplished, but at a high cost, let's assume it's based on principal and not monetary gain. And have a legal entitlement to money back?  No.  You are of course welcome to send your doctor a letter stating that you would like $50 to make up for your two hour wait last time around, but there's no legal obligation for him to pay up, unless he signed a contract stating that he would do so. Corporations also cannot simply send you a fine or fee and expect you to pay it; you must have either agreed to pay it in the past, or now agree to pay it in exchange for something. In these cases, the corporations have the power: you have to agree to their rules to play ball.   However, consumers do have a significant power as well, in well-competed markets: the power to do business with someone else.  You don't like the restocking fee?  Buy from Amazon, which offers free shipping on returns.  You don't like paying a no-show fee from the doctor?  Find a doctor without one (or with a more forgiving fee), or with a low enough caseload that you don't have to make appointments early.  Your ability to fine them exists as your ability to not continue to patronize them. In some markets, though, consumers don't have a lot of power - for example, cable television (or other utilities). The FCC has a list of Customer Service Standards, which cable companies are required to meet, and many states have additional rules requiring penalties for missed or late appointments tougher than that.   And, in the case of the doctor, if your doctor is late - find one that is.  Or, try sending him a bill.  It does, apparently, work from time to time - particularly if the doctor wants to keep your business.
It is a great advice.  I would suggest going to the Companies House (it's in London somewhere), picking up all of their leaflets regarding requirements for different forms of corporate entity, and deciding if you want to have that burden.  It is not a lot of work, you can essentially claim VAT on all business purchases (the way roughly it works, is that your company invoices your client, your client has to pay the fee + VAT (usually that VAT is then deducted by your client from it's VAT, so no loss there), and you pay the VAT on the difference between the service sales price, and your costs (computers etc.) ) You have to be careful to avoid excessive double taxation (paying income tax on both corporate income, and then your personal income off said company), but it usually comes off in your favor. Essentially, if you're making more than 50% of your income from services rendered, it is to your advantage to render such services as a business entity.
"Actually, calculating taxes isn't that difficult.  You will pay a percentage of your gross sales to state and local sales tax, and as a single-owner LLC your profits (after sales taxes) should pass through to your individual tax tax return (according to this IRS article. They are not cumulative since they have different bases (gross sales versus net profit). That said, when determining if your future business is profitable, you need to ask ""what aspects of the business can I control""? Can you control how much each item sells for? Increasing your prices will increase your gross margins, which should be higher than your fixed and variable costs.  If your margins do not exceed your costs, then you will note be profitable. Note that as a vendor you are at a slight disadvantage to a retailer, since tax has to be baked in to your prices.  A retailer can advertise the pre-tax price, and pass-through sales tax at the point of sale.  However, people expect to pay more at a vending machine, so the disadvantage is very small (you aren't directly competing with retailers anyways)."
The typical answer would be to write a business plan. But really the first step should be to jot your thoughts down as much as possible. Think about the idea, your customers, vendors, accounting, marketing, everything. Then you'll know which step(s) to take next.
I actually have a bit of experience with the supplier side of this. Having worked with other people attempting to get the business launched, I can shed a bit of insight. The primary reason for the pricing is that there simply isn't enough competition to warrant dropping the price any lower than it already is. Large companies such as Hallmark will typically buy card designs at 5% of the card's selling price. With their existing distribution network, this makes bringing in new and varied designs much easier for large companies that are already well established. Having talked with such designers in the past, someone working full time producing designs makes on average 30-60k annually from this, which is worth it to someone who doesn't want to jump through the hoops of actually getting into the business independently. The primary issue stifling competition is actually getting your product into stores. There are topics here that I cannot discuss due to NDA, but I can break down the overall outline for you: You need to start with a large number of designs, with enough variety that companies think could sell well. If you bring a handful of designs with you, no company is going to take your business venture seriously enough. You need to find a company that can stamp out a large production process for you. The company is going to need to be nice enough to take smaller purchase orders on the magnitude of several hundred cards, but also be capable of scaling that production to several hundreds of thousands of cards very quickly. For cards specifically, most companies want you to ship custom racks with your cards. Some companies may provide their own racks for stocking your product, but not all of them will. This will also cost a lot of money up front. You need to find a buyer for a company you want to sell your product to. This is important, and what killed our original business plans. Think Wal-Mart, Target, or even CVS Pharmacy. These big companies are going to have people who's entire job is to buy new products to put on their shelves. This is where networking is key, you need to find people with connections to these buyers if you're not already well established with them. You will also likely fail several times, either getting outright ignored, or through a broker that can't meet expectations.
First decide if the best route is to distribute as a middle man (eg.land an Amazon or Walmart contract), or to distribute it through yourself (your own company).   Is it more profitable to form your own corporation or have the mother company establish a international entity in N.A? (fees apply but they could be minuscule to your projected margins(eg.$5000 fee to open up a market of $1,000,000+ GP))  If you decide you want to establish your own means of distribution, you will have to decide if your going to build physical locations or do online distribution.   Depending on what the product or service your providing, you generally have more possibilities and opportunities with online market.   You can run an online website, incorporate an online store that accept online payments, and shipping products for less than $5000 a year. (Monthly payments for the services provided, excluding any shipping/import costs)  This would be done with the means of website hosts such as GoDaddy, or retail hosts like Shopify.
I'm not a fan of spending time negotiating prices within the company; that's just a waste of time, but I think assigning costs appropriately is important to evaluating the segment or department performance.  If the internal sales are done across borders there are tax impacts and you are required to charge a market rate.  Transfer pricing is a hot topic within the accounting industry
We did it where I used to work. Take IT, as an example, where a developer's time was priced close the market prices. The company, though in a completely unrelated area, did have some conference rooms that could be rented and the price was the same internally externally.  The good things about the system was that costs where adequately accounted for. Also, departments that might have been only cost centres actually could turn a profit by servicing internal customers.
In general I'd advise you to do it the other way around in the future:   Know what your plan is and what you need for it *before* reaching out publicly. That way you can respond more quickly and answer questions more easily.   As for the meeting: you basically need to prepare three things.   1. What do you need to know when the meeting is over? 2. What can you offer the client? 3. What is a fair price for your time?  Under 1: What kind of website do they want? Do you have complete freedom, or do you have to work within their existing branding? Can you deliver what they're asking? For example, if they want a CMS to manage their portfolio, can you build that?  Under 2: What's your own portfolio like? What can you use to convince the client you have the capabilities to deliver what they're asking? (Note the difference with 1: that's if you can actually do it, this is if you can convince them of that fact).   Under 3: Determine what you'd find a fair hourly wage, so that during the meeting you can estimate what the total price should be and when you should consider backing out.   Finally you should consider what you'll do if you run into complications. As it's your first client, it's good to give it some thought ahead of time, but it probably won't come up during the meeting.  As for being convincing: if you get #2 right you should be confident that you can actually do what you promise. If your portfolio is limited, you can look up websites yourself for other interior designers before the meeting so that you can go over them with the client. Ask which elements the client does and doesn't like, summarize it in the end and affirm you can deliver something combining those things.
I would look for business broker websites and start searching there to get an idea what they cost.   If you're interested in running one I would strongly suggest finding someone who does that can mentor you or working as a manager for a couple of years.  Small business ownership is very hard.