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Thanks for reading! I hadn't heard that about credit card rewards. I'll talk it over with my accountant. Thanks for the tip! >Also those cloud expenses look s

Thanks for reading! I hadn't heard that about credit card rewards. I'll talk it over with my accountant. Thanks for the tip! >Also those cloud expenses look significant. That looks like an 80% increase year-over-year which is substantial. Is there a way to shave off a significant amount by moving to a different method for architecture? Or will that break your system? I worry about rapidly growing cloud expenses especially when you're not that huge of a company. The big one is Shopify ($4.7k). That's partially because they charge a percentage of our sales and partially because we had to upgrade to the $300/mo plan when we switched to the 3PL in order to get features that bridge our 3PL's system to our Shopify account.[0] The other big jump was in HelpScout ($2.4k) because we used to have a discounted rate as a startup, but that ended after two years, so we pay a whopping $50/seat. >Can you share insights in the high yield dividends you're earning that are also low risk enough that the underlying investment value doesn't erode? Oh, really nothing especially clever. Just the popular Vanguard index funds like VFIAX (S&P 500) and VBTLX (total bond market). I had some money in VLGSX (long-term treasuries), which didn't have a good time when interest rates increased in the last couple of years, but fortunately, I was diversified enough for stocks to compensate. [0] https://mtlynch.io/retrospectives/2023/04/#should-we-pay-150-to-ship-this-50-order https://mtlynch.io/retrospectives/2023/04/#should-we-pay-150...

rexreed 3y ago
Interesting on the cloud expenses (Altho I'd really categorize those as SaaS vs cloud, but that's just semantics. I tend to think of Cloud as IaaS / Paas / Faas vs. Saas which is mostly renting an online application). Regardless, Those 2 only add up to $7.1k so I'm curious where the bigger ~$9k remainder is coming from. Folks love Shopify, and it does work very well. But for my small businesses I've been very happily using Woocommerce on Wordpress, basically nothing but the hosting cost for Wordpress, and it's been delivering very well. I've done several million annually on the Woocommerce / Wordpress combo. That being said, even eliminating or reducing Shopify would still have you at a premium vs last year so there must be some other Saas / Cloud expense driving that bill up.
- mtlynch 3y ago
  >Folks love Shopify, and it does work very well. But for my small businesses I've been very happily using Woocommerce on Wordpress, basically nothing but the hosting cost for Wordpress, and it's been delivering very well. I've done several million annually on the Woocommerce / Wordpress combo. I don't love Shopify, but it's been overall fine. It mostly does what we need, and it's been stable, so I've been reluctant to change. Even if we swap out Shopify, we still have to pay someone whatever credit card processing fee. >Regardless, Those 2 only add up to $7.1k so I'm curious where the bigger ~$9k remainder is coming from. It's just a lot of little things. A lot of them are around team collaboration. Here are the next top five: CircleCI: $2.3k Plane (contractor management): $1k Time tracking: $700 TalkYard (support forum): $700 Inventory management: $600 (we stopped using this after we switched to the contract manufacturer)

rexreed 3y ago

Interesting on the cloud expenses (Altho I'd really categorize those as SaaS vs cloud, but that's just semantics. I tend to think of Cloud as IaaS / Paas / Faas vs. Saas which is mostly renting an online application). Regardless, Those 2 only add up to $7.1k so I'm curious where the bigger ~$9k remainder is coming from. Folks love Shopify, and it does work very well. But for my small businesses I've been very happily using Woocommerce on Wordpress, basically nothing but the hosting cost for Wordpress, and it's been delivering very well. I've done several million annually on the Woocommerce / Wordpress combo. That being said, even eliminating or reducing Shopify would still have you at a premium vs last year so there must be some other Saas / Cloud expense driving that bill up.

mtlynch 3y ago
>Folks love Shopify, and it does work very well. But for my small businesses I've been very happily using Woocommerce on Wordpress, basically nothing but the hosting cost for Wordpress, and it's been delivering very well. I've done several million annually on the Woocommerce / Wordpress combo. I don't love Shopify, but it's been overall fine. It mostly does what we need, and it's been stable, so I've been reluctant to change. Even if we swap out Shopify, we still have to pay someone whatever credit card processing fee. >Regardless, Those 2 only add up to $7.1k so I'm curious where the bigger ~$9k remainder is coming from. It's just a lot of little things. A lot of them are around team collaboration. Here are the next top five: CircleCI: $2.3k Plane (contractor management): $1k Time tracking: $700 TalkYard (support forum): $700 Inventory management: $600 (we stopped using this after we switched to the contract manufacturer)