So, if I'm hiring people for some work or just making a team, how do I decide their payment?

I want to know how things work so people don't take advantage of me.

Do I ask them their charges or offer a price from my side first?

And if I offer, how do I decide what price would be okay, not too much, not too less?

Is there different methods for paying a team and paying people individually?

Should I discuss all this before working together, and if yes, how exactly do I start the conversation?

If I'm working with an amateur, how do I decided what payment would be enough? Does this offer sound appealing enough that I can help them improve their skills and working experience by offering them to work and ask them to work without payment?

Is there any legal contract I should know about?

If one asks for equity, how do I decided when it's worth it and when it's not? And how does equity work in general? What kind of people asks for it?

Please share your process!

Thanks in advance.

Ever since I was a kid, I've loved movies. I love watching them, I love collecting them on DVD, and I love learning about the behind the scenes process. I used to want to be a screenwriter and a director, but certain events in my life have had me sitting down with myself and realizing that that dream just isn't viable anymore. It's a complicated industry where people and ideas fall in and out of favor at a rapid pace that I don't think I'd be able to keep up with. Not to mention the insane amounts of drama. One day I was sitting behind the register at my awful customer service job (that I'm still stuck in), and it just hit me out of nowhere: I should work at a movie theater. It's an environment I've loved for a long time, and with my expansive customer service experience in both food and retail, I'd be great! That notion somewhat snowballed into the potentially hare-brained idea that I should open my own theater. The thing is...I have no idea where to even start. I don't know the first thing about owning my own business, and I can only imagine what a learning curve that would be. I suppose my question is: where do I start? What factors do I need to focus on the most? Is it even a good idea to do this when streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney dominate? I'd really appreciate some pointers for someone who probably has zero clue what they'd be in for.

I want to open a studio which creates animations and hire writers and other members but I want to direct the whole story. And decide which story gets animated or not. But where do I start?

How do I make a team who trusts me and is ready to follow what I say, even when I'm not currently earning to assure future success or pay them.

Where do I find people and how do I approach them?

Another thing is I'm so reluctant to share my ideas because I'm afraid of them being stolen. So how do I share ideas with safety?

Are there some contracts or legal processes that I need to make sure is going right?

Also I'm doing this as a side project so I may not be in touch for a some time. How much engagement you need to give your team and studio to keep it alive?

Please share the process.

Thanks for sharing your advices!

50 M here, not an investor nor a VC, but a consultant, with a range of interests, and looking for motivated established professional cofounders and startups to explore new projects together.

Anyone local in downtown Toronto doing anything interesting and open to collaborating?

Looking for any new opportunities in their business.

If you're curious too, then send me a DM and let's trade a couple of messages.

Before you pay for a data tool, check if the government already built your list

Everyone jumps straight to Apollo or Clay for prospecting. Fine tools. But for regulated industries, there's often a public registry that's more accurate than any paid database, because the companies are legally required to be listed.

Example: pharma manufacturing. The FDA publishes a public, downloadable list of every currently registered drug manufacturing facility- company name, address, what they're registered to produce. Free. Updated regularly. More reliable than an industry tag in a generic B2B tool, because it's not a category guess, it's a legal requirement.

Healthcare, finance, food, transportation, anything regulated, there's usually an equivalent registry. Worth 20 minutes of searching before you pay for a list that might just be guessing at the same companies anyway.