vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
I quit my job 8 years ago with a wife and a new baby to start an agency. We aimed to do client work to pay the bills, and meanwhile work on a portfolio of products which we could sell.  We had around 5 years of extremely tough times, sometimes not enough money to buy food, and the revenue breathing down our necks. It was highly, highly stressful. The next 3 years were a little better, still stressful and a lot of hard knocks and lessons to learn.  This last year has been wonderful. Creating a startup will teach you things you never realised you needed to learn. It will break you down and remake you.  If you decide to go for it, make sure your wife is on board. Maintain an emergency fund, and don't eat into it. Save for tax, even if that means you can't eat. Don't expect to go on holiday for at least 5 years. Cut your expenses down to a shoestring. Get really good at finance. Practice envelope budgeting. Don't eat out. Work hard, talk to people, network. If you and your wife can get through the pain it will be worth it, but don't expect anything like an easy ride.
You must read E-Myth by Michael Gerber.  I've had a business for 13 years.  I read this book 4 years ago and it changed everything.   It's about building systems within your business that allow it to eventually run on its own, which brings it that much more value.    Everyone always also recommends, The Millionaire Next Door (It's a great book, but can be tedious).  It essentially takes a statistical look at real millionaires and their lifestyles, and shows that making a lot of money and living modestly leads to true wealth, as opposed to successfull people who make a lot of money but have too many large liabilities (excessively expensive cars and houses ect..) so their net worth is less than a million.  It's not about having tons of money, it's about living modestly.  The last one is 7 habits of highly effective people. I haven't gotten to that one yet.   Edit.  More general advice: Pay taxes on your money as it comes in.  Don't wait until the end of the year and get a huge tax bill.  Also, have an endgame goal or vision to start with, so you can always have a guide to where you're going. For Instance: do you want to always run and operate your business or do you hope to build it and then sell? Or do you want to be a hands off owner eventually and have someone else manage it?  The better shaped your endgame vision is, the easier it will be to get there.  Be stingy, especially at first, you need cash.  Dont go buying a brand new Mac laptop and an office space you don't need.  Eventually you'll learn when you need to spend money and when to be stingy.
I'm currently in process. I work full time for one big local company and side Hustle in my free time. U must have some income, so I belive this is good path. In future, when I could live from my own company I will quit my current job. But that means that you should work at least 14-16 h/day. It is hard but it will be worth one day.  Make some product, find clients etc. Start small, find some co-founder(s) and just start.
You read 'The E-Myth' now go ahead and read 'The E-Myth Revisited' but don't quit studies. Try to start a business while doing college,  you will figure out many more things with your start-up,  ups and downs both,  but with no degree in hand you would never have well-paying job in your chosen education stream (something to fall back on) even if the business doesn't succeed or you find that your motivation isn't there. Whatever you do give it your 100%, that way you wouldn't have to walk as loser.
This is what helped me.  - I did my own taxes - get your own job, not from your parents, or parents friends, but entirely by yourself. Complete independence will equate to financial independence - Wikipedia (for specifics and definitions) paired with finance genre movies - audiobook, or YouTube video, 'why an economy grows, and why it doesnt'   That's a good start. Good luck!   Don't be too gung ho to invest and all that crap, you got lots too learn. Rule 1: don't be too eager, that's how you lose all your money! My best financial investments to date were:  1) my education (engineering) 2) I didn't pay my student loan off, instead, I bought a property, and I made $70,000 in 8 months off of one, and $100,000 off of another one in 2 years,  3) still making minimum payments on my student loan, a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow  4) pack my own lunches every day, eating out every meal ends up costing more than most mortgage payments.   This is in Vancouver BC, Canada.
You could also start a business.  I ran a project called the Thousand Rand Challenge a few years ago in South Africa where we supported people in starting a business for about $100 each.  Some of them were surprisingly profitable. You can find a few ideas at the wiki site.
"On the other side of the argument if you use your own capital you build a product that you own, not some random VC who doesn't care about anything but dollar signs.   Your chances of joining a successful startup are pretty slim. I would say the chances of you starting your own product/bootstrapping are also slim. The payoffs for owning what you create are priceless.  I think that for some people it's just easy to fall into the ""wage slave"" way of life, but that doesn't mean that ideals in the post are wrong."
Some people are born to be entrepreneurs while others have to hone their skills on their way; it’s just a matter of coming outside the comfort zone perhaps of being an employee, and taking the big leap! If you have decided to join the league and are ready to embrace the challenge of being your own boss, here are few things you need to watch out for.
Thanks for the tip, I know of one or two privately backed incubators I can approach but have already reached out to local government for access to their funding streams. I just want to make sure I cover all of my bases and seek as much of the available capital as I can. Is there a good way to approach/meet private investors?
Concentrate on MVP first, after do a little testing (ask friends/family).  If MVP looks well, then start your campaign on Kickstarter or ProductHunt.  Do you have a validation of your idea? Because you need to know You can have a really good idea - but if no one don't use it, the idea will remain an idea..
You and me both.  The thing is that you can't be a pure entrepreneur/intrepreneur - you have to do something else as well.   For me that's mostly programming (it's like a problem solving superpower!) and dabbling with general business skill.
Starting a blog is a process that can be equally rewarding whether you are doing it for professional or personal reasons. No matter what your reasons for running a blog, your blog is your own. But if you want to get people to visit your site, it’s important to handle your blog in the best way possible. In the following article, you’ll read some helpful tips on how to start building a blog.
I was starting at 16 (i'm from Russia). Just don't listen to anyone and work hard with your ideas (doesn't matter good or bad). After 2-3 years you gonna have huge skill set for make fortune. Mark and Bill was at your place and make it like I wrote. Doesn't repeat my mistakes plz. I was going to university and fell on love.... Huge mistakes. Just work hard and believe in your self.
Congratulations on starting your own business. Invest in a tax software package right away; I can't recommend a specific one but there is enough information out there to point you in the right direction: share with us which one you ended up using and why (maybe a separate question?) You do need to make your FICA taxes but you can write off the SE part of it. Keep all your filings as a PDF, a printout and a softcopy in the native format of the tax software package: it really helps the next tax season. When you begin your business, most of the expenses are going to be straightforward (it was for me) and while I had the option of doing it by hand, I used software to do it myself. At the beginning, it might actually seem harder to use the tax software package, but it will pay off in the end. Build relationships with a few tax advisors and attorneys: you will need to buy liability insurance soon if you are in any kind of serious (non hobby) business and accounting for these are no trivial tasks. If you have not filed yet, I recommend you do this: File an extension, overpay your estimated taxes (you can always collect a refund later) and file your return once you have had a CPA look over it. Do not skimp on a CPA: it's just the cost of running your business and you don't want to waste your time reading the IRS manuals when you could be growing your own business. Best of luck and come back to tell us what you did!
Just give me specific title ideas and happy to bust some out. Oh. I also made a free excel training course. There's like 25 free classes with an excel you have to fill in to test if you learn the formula. You can get them here: https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/products/excel-training/ Just register and the excel class is sent to you every day I'm all about helping founders. If your broke AF send me a message and happy to try help you out. If you're looking for something super basic (which is better than what you'll make anyway) I can prob bust something simple in 20mins as a favor to the community.
We are always ready to help, whether you are a startup up company or existing. Accountingdirect have 20 years of experience of property experience and evaluating town Property Development Advise issues. Along with these things, we find right joint venture partners to help you finance your projects. Many people's within the Melbourne aspire to start their personal belongings Property Development Advice, and it's no actual surprise. After all, aside from supplying an opportunity to make a notable deal of cash, working in assets development may be an interesting outlet for creativity and would not require any professional qualifications.
Did You Make The Decision?   Some of us display Entrepreneurial traits from a young age, research shows that some successful individuals have had Entrepreneurial parents.  In my case, it was circumstantial – I took a leap of faith in myself &amp; have learnt so many valuable lessons along the way.  When you set-up in business you will go through an array of emotions for at least 2 years, it takes between 2 – 3 years for your nerves to settle &amp; to feel you are not faking it but making your future unfold in front of you.
You are wildly over-estimating your taxes.  First, remember that your business expenses reduce your gross income.  Second, remember that taxes are progressive, so your flat 35% only applies if you're already making a high salary that pushed you into the higher brackets of US and CA. I think the deeper problems are: 1) you are expecting a super early start-up (with no finished product) to pay you the same as a steady job, including health insurance, and 2) you are expecting Kickstarter to independently fund the venture. The best source of funding is yourself.  If you believe in this venture and in your game design abilities, then pay for most of the costs out of your own savings.  Cut your expenses to the extent you can. You may want to wander over to startups.SE to get more perspective and ideas on your business plan.
I have been a business owner for over 10 years.  One of my most useful experiences was working for a small business when I was your age.  Do the free online courses, start your own small side business, work for a real small business and suck everything up that you can.
First and foremost, I would warn about having to shell out your own money for start-up, inventory, or other sunk costs.  If I have to significant amounts of goods and stockpile them, that would be a warning.  Some goods-based MLM have significant start-up costs.  Along with this - how realistic are your time expectations.  Is this to be a part-time occasional endeavor - or your full-time occupation?  Do you know enough people that you believe you can recruit, as it is the pyramid that makes you the money, not the goods themselves. Secondly, market research.  Companies that I would consider real franchise-like companies generally either have, or demand you do, significant market research in an area before you start.  They don't want the good name of their company tarnished by having a venue close down.  MLM generally don't care as much (generalization).  Similarly, are there others in the same neighborhood/town already in the scheme?  If so, and depending on the size of your community, many of your potential target recruits may already either be in the scheme, or already scared/annoyed. Third, and last for my list are any kind of pressure tactics.  Again - franchisee companies and their ilk generally want a long-term relationship with the right people - not just more and more people as part of the pyramid.  MLM and the like tend to want expand at all costs.
"You could have some of the chaos and create a product for yourself, which is owned fully by you, where nobody would ever be able to fire you or go over your head or oust you or force you to sell.   That's the beauty of bootstrapping.  My essay was not anti-startup and it was not anti-fun-creative-chaos. It was anti-venture capital, anti-pipe dreams, anti-selling-yourself.   My whole blog is pro-building-products because products as assets, which make money -- and the difference between a normal person with a job (even at a startup) and the truly rich is that the rich have assets and the normos just have time.   I aim to be ""truly rich"" and not sell my time. Thus my 3-year journey into products. Thus my blog."
Greg Lindberg CEO Wondering whether it is time to start your own business? If so, it’s a sign that it may be the time to pursue that dream, says Greg Lindberg, successful businessman and CEO. If you have an idea or a desire to be your own boss, Greg Lindberg provides five signs that shouldn’t be ignored:
Fantastic question to be asking at the age of 22! A very wise man suggested to me the following with regard to your net income I've purposely not included saving a sum of money for a house deposit, as this is very much cultural and lots of EU countries have a low rate of home ownership. On the education versus entrepreneur question. I don't think these are mutually exclusive. I am a big advocate of education (I have a B.Eng) but have following working in the real world for a number of years have started an IT business in data analytics. My business partner and I saw a gap in the market and have exploited it. I continue to educate myself now in short courses on running business, data analytics and investment. My business partner did things the otherway around, starting the company first, then getting an M.Sc. Other posters have suggested that investing your money personally is a bad idea. I think it is a very good idea to take control of your own destiny and choose how you will invest your money.   I would say similarly that giving your money to someone else who will sometimes lose you money and will charge you for the privilege is a bad idea. Also putting your money in a box under your bed or in the bank and receive interest that is less than inflation are bad ideas. You need to choose where to invest your money otherwise you will gain no advantage from the savings and inflation will erode your buying power. I would suggest that you educate yourself in the investment options that are available to you and those that suit you personality and life circumstances. Here are some notes on learning about stock market trading/investing if you choose to take that direction along with some books for self learning.
don't panic yet, you never know what will come out of it. plus it sounds like it's your first interview. Most people don't land a job on their first interview. also get some confidence in yourself, you are already a head of the curve! you have your own business at a young age with a marketable skill set (assuming you actually have the skills). You'll be fine in the long run. success is just the result of learning from a long string of failures.
The type of business you should form will depend on the scope you plan for the company and the amount of time/money you're willing to put in. A sole proprietorship (what you are by default) means there is no difference legally/financially between you as an individual and you as a company. This may be suitable if this is just a hobby, but not if you intend it to grow because that means any lawsuit directed at your company and its money is also directed at you and your money. The differences between an LLC and corporation are more nuanced and involve differences in legal and tax treatment, however, they both shield you from the previously mentioned problem. If you want this to be more than a hobby you should form either an LLC or a corporation. Do some research on the differences and how they might apply to you and in your state.
**Have a business plan.** Even if this is just a piece of paper that you and your friend scratched on, you want a document that describes what you're going to do and how you're going to do it. Also have some note of how profits will be shared (most likely, this will be 50/50 but write it down!)  **Plan ahead and have some cash onhand.** Not every one of your expenses will be something you will know about in advance. Plan your expenses so that you have money to cover them, but also have an emergency fund (you can build this with the profits you get in the beginning) in case your rake breaks and you don't have a backup. Also, if you use your emergency fund, REPLACE IT.  **Trust each other and communicate.** All businesses should run on trust. You and your friend should trust that the other person is going to work hard and put in the work. If you don't trust that he will show up on time, the burden falls to you and you will need to work harder. If you're having problems with him, trust that you'll be able to approach him (be tactful and respectful though) and work it out.   **Have fun.** Ultimately, starting a business like this should be fun. Yes, the work may seem like a drag, but if you and your friend are able to have fun while working you'll enjoy it more and it won't seem so bad. Also, don't be afraid to spend your profits on yourselves. I'm not saying blow every dollar you make, but going to dinner or going to see a movie together with your hard earned profits from that day's work can make it all worth it.  These are just some ideas that I came up with at my desk at work. If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me. I'm happy to help out. Good luck!
"An LLC is overkill for 99% of 1 man small businesses. Side-businesses should remain as sole proprieterships until they get much larger and need the benefits of the LLC laws. You can still bill through a company name if you want to start building a brand: And set aside 25% of your gross income for Uncle Sam. He wants you to file a Schedule C with your regular 1040 at tax time. He doesn't care about your company. He just wants your social security number with a big fat check stuck to it. Be sure to maximize your tax savings by tracking your expenses like a hawk. Every mile is worth 50 cents. I recommend using a tracking system like the TaxMinimiser.com (buy the $4 version to see if you like it). Bottom line: EARN MONEY. Don't set up a ""corporation""."
I started an Apparel company. They started out small in their garage. They moved to my converted garage and when I got pregnant I decided to just take the leap at 5 months pregnant. Quit my zoo keeping job making very good money to making practically nothing and started a company from scratch. I had no name or really idea. But as the weeks passed I figured it out. Last year the company made 100k now that's not profit but I'm proud of it. Since I quit my job in July 2015. If you love it make it more than just a hobby. You'll thank yourself later. Good luck
set up a US company (WY is cheap and easy), go south and open a personal and business bank account, ask for the itin form. file for the itin. set up your EIN for the company. get a credit card for both. pay some mail forwarding service with it. file for taxes in the next year using your itin. prepaid cards do not link to your tax id
You need a budget. You need to know how much you make and how much you spend.  How much you earn and what you choose to spend you money on is your choice.  You have your own tolerance for risk and your own taste and style, so lifestyle and what you own isn't something that we can answer. The key to your budget is to really understand where you money goes.  Maybe you are the sort of person who needs to know down to the penny, maybe you are a person who rounds off.  Either way you should have some idea. How should I make a budget? and How can I come up with a good personal (daily) budget? Once you know what you budget is, here are some pretty standard steps to get started.  Each point is a full question in of itself, but these are to give you a place to start thinking and learning. You might have other priorities like a charity or other organizations that go into your priority like. Regardless of your career path and salary, you will need a budget to understand where you money is, where it goes, and how you can reach your goals and which goals are reasonable to have.
To me the key is a budget.  Each month, before it begins, decide on what to spend on each dollar that you earn.  Money should be allotted for normal expenses such as housing, food, transportation, and utilities. If you have any consumer debt that should be a priority.  Extra money should go to eliminate that debt. There should be money allotted to savings goals (such as retirement, home down payment, or vacation home).  Also there should be money set aside for clothing and giving.  Giving is an important part and often overlooked part of wealth creation.   Somewhere in there you should also give yourself a bit of free money.  For example one of the things I spend my free money on is coffee.  I buy freshly ground coffee from a really good supplier.  It is a bit expensive, but that is okay as it does not preclude me from meeting other goals. If you still have money left after all of that increase your giving some, your savings some, and your free money some.  You can then spend that money without guilt. If your budget includes $100 of free money per month, and you want something that costs $1000, save up the $1,000 and then buy it.  Do not borrow to buy free money stuff!   Doing those sorts of things will make you weigh purchasing decisions very carefully. If you find that you cannot stick to a budget, you should enlist a friend to be your accountability partner.  They have to be very good with money.
Lots of good advice so far. Here's some meta-advice. Read through everything here twice, and distill out what the big picture ideas are. Learn about what you need to know about them. Pick a strategy and/or long term goals. Work toward them. Get advice from many many places and distill it. This is currently known as crowd-sourcing but I've been doing it all my life. It's very effective. No one will ever care as much about your money as you. Some specific things I haven't seen mentioned (or not mentioned much):