So since I lost my job last month (bleh), I decided to follow my dream and head an international writing consulting company, Ambassador's Ink.  Well, the website finally came up last week - http://ambink.com - and I've been busy networking and soliciting clients.  Eventually we'll become an LLC (in Delaware, of course) and I'm sure incorporate somewhere, possibly Ohio, possibly somewhere with a lower tax burden, possibly who knows where. 

 

I was wondering if anyone else has a small business and what that may be.  I also thought this would be a neat place to vent because I'm obviously a little nervous about this project and there are lots of thoughts running in my mind (what if it doesn't succeed, what if it does, how long do I stick with it, how do I go about hiring people, when does it become 'real', is it practical to stay in Cleveland, how can I afford a tax attorney, how much money should I borrow, how do I acquire investors, am I making a mistake, how do I find clients, how ethical is it to solicit clients with the same email message, how do I enforce contacts with international companies, yadda yadda). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations!  How exciting.  Good luck, I don't have any specific advice for you, but from what I read, (even here on UO) people need a lot of grammatical help these days!

Good luck with the enterprise. I can see you guys opening up a nice niche for yourselves--I'll send you my CV if you want to round out your team with an experienced marketing writer. Something that would really help your site would be to present a few case studies, either genuine or speculative. It would really drive home the capabilities of your firm.

 

The old chestnut is true: word of mouth is the best form of marketing for your business. That said, you should have no compunction about having a standardized pitch for prospective clients (assuming it's a good one). The key is communicating an understanding of their business needs. You may want to tailor your pitch to several broad categories of prospects. If you're too general, you'll fall on the "all-things-to-all-people" sword.

 

I have experience with a brick-and-mortar, employees and everything business. I won't go into specifics, but here are some broad principals I'd pass on:

 

- Your business becomes real the moment you decide to be successful. Hopefully that decision has already been made.

- Get a good CPA NOW, not later. That cannot be stressed enough. Negotiate payment on a percentage basis if you can.

- Get that CPA to set you up as an S-corp. This will create a firewall between your business liabilities and your personal ones.

- Put together a formal, written business plan now. You'll need it to apply for funding, and you'll need it a year from now to make sure you're still doing what you set out to do.

- Never invest your own money. If you do, structure a repayment schedule and pay yourself before you pay any other single expense.

- If you're not making a clear profit in three years, do something else.

- If you're making a clear profit and not having fun, sell your interest to your partner and do something else.

Good luck with the enterprise. I can see you guys opening up a nice niche for yourselves--I'll send you my CV if you want to round out your team with an experienced marketing writer. Something that would really help your site would be to present a few case studies, either genuine or speculative. It would really drive home the capabilities of your firm.

 

The old chestnut is true: word of mouth is the best form of marketing for your business. That said, you should have no compunction about having a standardized pitch for prospective clients (assuming it's a good one). The key is communicating an understanding of their business needs. You may want to tailor your pitch to several broad categories of prospects. If you're too general, you'll fall on the "all-things-to-all-people" sword.

 

I have experience with a brick-and-mortar, employees and everything business. I won't go into specifics, but here are some broad principals I'd pass on:

 

- Your business becomes real the moment you decide to be successful. Hopefully that decision has already been made.

- Get a good CPA NOW, not later. That cannot be stressed enough. Negotiate payment on a percentage basis if you can.

- Get that CPA to set you up as an S-corp. This will create a firewall between your business liabilities and your personal ones.

- Put together a formal, written business plan now. You'll need it to apply for funding, and you'll need it a year from now to make sure you're still doing what you set out to do.

- [glow=red,2,300]Never invest your own money[/glow]. If you do, structure a repayment schedule and pay yourself before you pay any other single expense.

- If you're not making a clear profit in three two years, do something else.

- If you're making a clear profit and not having fun, sell your interest to your partner and do something else.

 

- Get an advisor/mentor currently in this field and go to as many seminars as possible.

- Although, above I say get a good CPA, a publist/public relations manager is necessary

- A good website is key.  If you have a second rate website, people will think you are a second rate company.  Talk to someone like (cough, cough) MayDay for branding.

 

 

 

I do agree with the idea of keeping a CPA around, but it's not necessary to pay a CPA big money to do smaller tasks that an inexpensive bookkeeper can handle, especially when you are small.

Hey guys, thanks for the advice.  I do have a CPA on standby, so to speak, though I will be doing all the numbers until it becomes too much a burden.  Also, we will become an LLC in some time but not at the present moment.  Even though forming one isn't that hard and pretty cheap (I think $125), it's not absolutely crucial at this point because with the nature of this work, I'm not really concerned with my personal assets being jeopardized.  But an LLC is in the game plan, perhaps after the 2009 school year ends. 

 

To kingfish.  I may take you up on that offer sooner than you think.  Thanks for putting yourself out there. 

 

Regarding never investing your money, I more or less do that (email/host/domain name are nominal costs) though obviously you have to spend some to make more.  I do plan on reinvesting the money we make into real advertising since all the stuff I'm doing now - networking, email solicitations to businesses, paying friends in schools via commission to promote our group and pass around advertisements - is a bit informal.

 

Let's see...looking at other suggestions.  Our website is small - http://ambink.com and it's evolving.  We still need get figure out how to upload our company logo, and we do have a samples page yet to be uploaded. 

 

"Your business becomes real the moment you decide to be successful. Hopefully that decision has already been made."

Well, the business is certainly a success in that regard, now my next goal is obviously for long term clients.

 

"Get a good advisor/mentor".  Well, I've been doing this on and off since '02 in college when I was working with students, but I certainly see the benefits.

 

 

 

I do agree with the idea of keeping a CPA around, but it's not necessary to pay a CPA big money to do smaller tasks that an inexpensive bookkeeper can handle, especially when you are small.

 

I get birthday checks from my grandpa's CPA. Grandparents on my dad's side live in Japan but that still seems ridiculous to me. I guess the CPAs have a bunch of people beneath them that do menial tasks and for my grandparents its just a little typing and a few clicks on the computer.