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Young Business - Part 7

[Read the Entire Young Business Series - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]

LASTLY

Plan for success.

This lesson is one that I am still learning and formulating, but which has already had a huge impact on my decision making.

When starting any kind of new business, product line, service, or website - you should build a base on which great success can be achieved. Start small, think big! Put things in place that will work well if your idea suddenly becomes extremely successful. Build them into the system from the beginning.

Build your business and your systems around what you want to be, not what you’ll settle for.  This creates a positive mindset in yourself and in your client that will draw bigger things to you.

[Read the Entire Young Business Series - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]

08/12/08 Comments (0)

Young Business - Part 6

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Give back.

Find a way that your new business can help others. You can use your time or money, donate goods or services, work locally or globally. Just find some way to make your business a force for good.  This seems to be important to employess entering the workforce now more than ever before.

It is also important to consumers.  I am not advocating that you do good as a marketing scheme though.  Doing good is its own reward.

Don’t sell yourself short.

Here is the best piece of advice I got before starting Apt Design, which will apply to anyone in a service industry:

Don’t back down from your hourly rate. If the client balks at the price, consider renegotiating the scope of the project, but don’t back down on your hourly rate.

And this advice is right on. Because when push comes to shove the client who is trying to negotiate your price is probably a client you don’t want to begin with.

You should have your hourly rate calculated to know exactly how much you need to make and how much the industry will allow you to charge.

Its scary advice to take. When you start a business you are probably wanting to get as much work as you can for whatever money someone is willing to give you. But this mindset is a trap on two fronts. One, you are telling yourself that you are not worth the price you set. Two, you are telling clients that you aren’t really as good as you say you are. That makes them respect you less while paying you less - a lose/lose situation.

Be prepared for highs and lows.

Your business will be your baby, and you will be very involved in it. It can be hard to see the big picture when you are so absorbed. Bad things can seem overwhelmingly negative and good things can make it seem that you will never fail.

Remember that nothing is probably as bad or as good as it seems at the time. The first few peaks and valleys may be pretty crazy, but knowing that you will see both ends of the spectrum can help you survive them.

If you can, work from home.

I highly recommend working from home if you can.  In today’s world there are many tools that allow you to look and function as well at home as you would in an office.

Working from home has many pros:

  • No commute
  • A relaxed environment (hopefully!)
  • You can work on house projects when you aren’t working on work
  • Flexible work time
  • An amazing sense of freedom

And just a few cons:

[Read the Entire Young Business Series - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]

08/08/08 Comments (0)

Young Business - Part 5

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AFTER THE LEAP - GROWING

Get and stay motivated.

When you are working for yourself you don’t have someone else pushing you to make sure things get done on time.  You have to do that yourself. Figure out what gets you motivated to complete tasks, and help yourself out.  Don’t be afraid to spend money on things that get you to work.  Reward yourself after a particularly difficult project or sale with a walk, a few hours watching tv, or by buying something you’ve been wanting.

Take action.

Ideas are great, but many people have them.  The people who succeed are those who take action to implement their great ideas.

As an entreprenuer you are probably very good at coming up with new ideas.  You may have developed quite a few when thinking about your new business, or you may take retreats to brainstorm.  Now you must sift through these visions and execute the ones you think can help your company grow.

Make lists of things that need to be done (marketing emails sent out, cleaning out old files, redesiging your inventory space) so that if you ever need something to do, these items will be ready.  If you never have free time and nothing on the list gets done, make time to take action.  Taking action makes sure that things are changing, even if it is only in incremental, tiny steps.  Growing must involve changing.

Get better.

We’ve all been in those stores that look like they haven’t changed in 20 years. We’ve all met those people selling the exact same services they’ve been selling for so long they’re no longer excited about what they do.  Don’t be one of those businesses.

On a whole you should constantly be trying to learn more and improve your life.  As an employee it is important to stay current in your industry.  As a business-owner it is imperative. Take a class locally or online, read a book, read industry-specific blogs, attend conferences - there are a variety of ways in which you can become more proficient in your profession.

Once you own your own business however, there is more that you must take on. Not only must you keep learning about your industry, now you must also master business as a whole.  You need to understand marketing, human resources, accounting and more on a new level.  Thankfully there are numerous books, courses, and websites that can help you with this as well.

Get a life.

For me, the whole purpose of owning your own business is to be able to live your preferred lifestyle. That could be working all the time and making lots of money, but it’s probably not. You are probably wanting less stress, a comfortable income, and more time to do other fun things. Don’t forget this once you start working! If you end up working more than you did working for someone else, having more stress, and not getting to do the things you really enjoy - is your business really successful?  Making money is not the only (or even most important) aspect of owning your own business.

I make sure to take time away (I have to purposefully schedule it) to pursue other things I love to do - running, biking, hiking, hanging out with friends.

It is also important to set boundaries on your work, before you get started. I try not to work too much outside of normal business hours and I never ever work on Sundays. You need to have time that is untouchable by your job.

[Read the Entire Young Business Series - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]

08/05/08 Comments (0)

From the Window - Cherries

Ripe Rainier cherriesRanier cherries came into full ripeness last month.  After just a few minutes of gleaning the orchards near the office I had many pounds of delicious fruit.  More than enough for some wonderful cherry milkshakes.

Why not take a break and go eat some fresh fruit, its good for you.

08/02/08 Comments (0)

Young Business - Part 4

[Read the Entire Young Business Series - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]

Look good.

Of course, making things look good is my business so I had to throw this in. Still, so many new businesses don’t realize the importance of image and first impressions. Consumers will subconsciously classify and value your business or product according to how it looks.  The money you spend on design directly relates to how people think of your business.  A good design firm can help you visually cement your company’s personality, helping create brand recognition and value.

This is not a place to skimp on your spending. You will get what you pay for.

Leverage technology.

This is a great area for young people to differentiate themselves and get ahead. Because we are often more comfortable with technology as it grows and changes we are able to more easily implement the newest software and processes that are being devised to save time and money. I mentioned this earlier, but as a young business person you have all sorts of advantages when using technology to grow and your business and make it more productive.  Technology is changing the way every industry operates.  It can help you communicate and sell to customers worldwide.  It can allow you to work from a variety of locations.

Have a website.

In today’s economy it is necessary for all business to have their own website.  Having your own custom site opens you to a world market, and allows random customers to find you.  It lets potential customers check you out before coming to you (a good reason to make sure your website is great!). The internet is open all the time (really!), and so is your unique marketing space.

Keeping your website current is imperative, and constantly adding new content is a pretty good idea as well.  Blogging allows you to present yourself as an expert in your industry, and can foster great community with your visitors and customers.

[Read the Entire Young Business Series - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]

07/31/08 Comments (0)

Young Business - Part 3

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DURING THE LEAP - IMPLEMENTING

Spend the money!

As a new startup there is a fine balance between being thrifty and getting the right tools for the job.  In my opinion most new business err too far on the side of being a too frugal.

Getting the right tools for the job is essential to job satisfaction. You have undoubtedly worked for someone who provided you with sub-par tools of the trade.  Why would you do that to yourself or your employees?  Having the right equipment will not only help you enjoy what you are doing more, it can help you be faster and more efficient (that means more money). Even with a shoestring budget you should decide which are the most important tools for what you will be doing and spend your money on those.

You get what you pay for. It is much better to go ahead and spend a little more money up front than have to fix or replace things down the road.

Create a good system.

With any business it is critical to put in place a regular workflow. This system should involve the entire life-cycle of one of your projects - from sales and communication to actually getting the work done to invoicing and follow-up. Having a system that is organized and reusable can save you massive amounts of time and energy.  It should be uncomplicated enough that you and/or your employees can move through it without having to consult a manual for every project.  Of course, it should also be flexible enough to adapt to the distinct aspects of each job.

So find out what systems are in place for your sort of business.  At Apt Design I use BaseCamp - which I can use to keep track of entire projects from start to finish.  Of course depending on your industry the system that you use could look totally different than an online project management system.

From the beginning you should implement a system that will streamline and efficientize your business.

Hire a good accountant.

Unless you are a trained accountant I have no idea why you would even try to take on the complex and crazy world of business taxes by yourself. Hiring a good accountant is always worth the money and time saved.

I hired a great accountant off the bat, and dealing with my first year of federal taxes was ridiculously easy. Not only that, but when she was finished with her financial magic we owed almost nothing!

[Read the Entire Young Business Series - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]

07/29/08 Comments (0)

Young Business - Part 2

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Get a mentor.

This takes the advice step even further. If you can, find a business person whom you respect that is willing to take the time to work directly and consistently with you. The person doesn’t have to be directly in your field, but they should be a good, reputable business person. Finding an entrepreneur who has also started their own business can be invaluable.

Talk your ideas through with this person, explaining all the details of your business as well as your hopes and dreams.  They can supply priceless guidance from the very start.  As your business matures they can provide perspective on specific situations you encounter as well as giving you an outsiders view of the business as a whole.

Find your strengths.

It’s important to know what you are good at and capitalize on those skills. Plan your business in such a way that your strengths will be amplified.  This goes for everything from how you work to what you work on, and even when you work.

For instance I’ve found my best creative times are from 8-11, AM and PM. So I try to schedule the work that needs the most creativity around those times (mostly AM, since I spend the evenings with my wife).

Find your weaknesses.

When owning your own business it is also necessary to be realistic with yourself and admit that you don’t do everything well. Make an I am no good at list.

After you have made this list decide how you will handle the items on your list. Three options are:

  • Hire employees to take care of them
  • Outsource them
  • Reward yourself when you buckle down and do it yourself

For example, after a few projects I have learned that I am not very good at developing sports design. I’m just not; I have a totally different style of work. So from now on I will either be outsourcing that design or passing it to another firm altogether.  This allows more time for me to do what I am good at.

Make sure the money is there (some anyways).

Starting a business takes money, so make sure you have enough to give yourself a fighting chance out there.

There are multiple ways to get money - a small business loan, a bank loan, personal loans, or even credit cards (though be very careful there). Your planning step should have told you exactly how much money you need for startup costs but remember to add in a security blanket, and don’t forget to tack on the first few months (or years) income for you to help with cash flow.

Also make sure you give yourself enough time to get the money in order.  When beginning my business I didn’t have a lot of time to get finances lined up, and was surprised how long the process took.  Plan at least a few weeks to get funds in order.

[Read the Entire Young Business Series - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]

07/24/08 Comments (0)

Young Business - Part 1

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Intro

I recently gave a presentation entitled, “Young Business - Starting Your Own Business as a Young Person.” I thought I would post most of that information here on the blog. Within the series I’ll be letting you know what I’ve learned so far and some of my advice for starting your own business.

BEFORE THE LEAP - PLANNING

Have a reason.

There are two reasons I see to start your own business.

The first is that you have a deep and long-standing passion to follow a dream and start your own company.  It may be for monetary gain, for personal freedom, or because you have an entreprenurial spirit.  Whatever the motivation the result is the same - an excitement to create something yourself.

The second reason is that you really dislike your current job situation.  You know you could do a better job than the person in charge, you feel continually miserable, or you can see that the ship is sinking and you need to get out.  It may help to try to improve your current situation by changing your viewpoint; but there are many instances where things are beyond your control to change and you just need to leave.

Of the two reasons the first is probably better because it is a positive rather than negative reason for starting your own business.  However, if you would consider Apt Design a success, then I’m proof that the second reason can work as well.

Do what you love.

This may sound cliche, but it is very important. “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” is a true maxim. Because really, if you are creating your own job, why would you choose to do something you didn’t love?

There is probably already someone out there making money doing something that you do just for fun.  Look at how other people are making money from their passion and see if something similar would work for you.  If you can’t find other examples, that may be a good thing!  Figure out a way to create a job for yourself - the market is ripe for innovation.

If you try to start your own business doing something you love, what’s the worst that could happen?  You will undoubtedly enjoy many parts of the adventure, learn a lot about yourself, and gain great business experience that will stay with you for the rest of your life. In the end you may end up working for someone else again, but the rewards may be more valuable than just money.

Plan in detail.

Planning out every step of your new business is probably the most important thing you can do when starting a business.  In fact, I’m not really sure you can plan too much. Planning forces you to think about every aspect of your business and decide how you will deal with it.

Some tangibles to think about:

  • Who will your customers be?
  • Who will your competition be?
  • What are your weekly, monthly, yearly expenses?
  • What are your profit margins?
  • How will you market yourself?
  • How will your business be structured?

There are also intangibles that you need to think about before starting:

  • How will this impact my family/relationship time?
  • What really defines success for my business?
  • What are my goals and dreams for this business?
  • What am I willing to commit to make this business make it?

There are of course plenty more things to think about, and I advise finding multiple books and websites that suggest other things to plan for - you want to make sure you have everything covered.

However, planning all this in your head isn’t good enough. You need to be able to write down all of your thoughts. If you have a thought or an idea that you can’t get down on paper, then it is not yet fully formed enough. That’s why creating a business plan is so important. It will also help immensely when you go to a bank or other source to get money.

Get advice.

Like planning, gathering advice before starting your business is something you can’t get enough of.  Gather as much advice as you can from as many people as you can. Not all of the advice will be good but it may lead you to other ideas that could help.  Talk to friends or relatives about what you are thinking and gather their input.  Keep a list of the best advice you get and refer to it regularly.

You can find plenty of advice online, so go to some relevant blogs and see what they have to say.  Most small business owners would also love to help out (especially if they are not direct competition); email a few and see if you can get some suggestions from them.

(What do you think so far?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and be on the lookout for the next installments of this series!)

[Read the Entire Young Business Series - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]

07/22/08 Comments (0)

my Passion Project

Today Apt Design is launching its newest venture - www.myPassionProject.com !

my Passion Project is a community-written blog that allows visitors to share with the world what they love to do - quickly, easily and for free!

A Passion Project is what you spend your extra time, money and effort on.  Something you love to do.  It may be a hobby, a collection, or a creation, but whatever it is you absolutely love doing it.  Sharing it with the world on myPassionProject.com can be rewarding, empowering and fun.

I have been working on my Passion Project for the past few months, incubating it from concept to fully-formed idea to an actual website.  I have had a blast designing it, developing it, and dreaming of its future possibilities.  It has certainly become my Passion Project and I’m happy to finally let everyone see it.

There are already some amazing posts over on the site, so go check it out and be sure to leave some comments or submit something yourself!

07/16/08 Comments (0) , , ,

From the Window - In Bloom

Flowers outside the Apt Design officeTo help you get to know Apt Design better, and to help us all appreciate the beauty that is always around us, I will be starting a new set of posts called “From the Window.”  These posts will mainly just be pictures of things that can be seen from the office of Apt Design.

Maybe they will inspire you to see new things from your own workspace, or at least see them in a new way.  I’d love to hear your comments about the idea, and our first post:
A group of flowers just now coming into bloom.

07/04/08 Comments (3)