So I started my own business ...

[James Snover]

... and the learning curve has been steep. Prowess with electrical circuits and a soldering iron does not necessarily translate to being an effective businessman.

So far, Lesson 1 is: Make it easy for people to give you their money. Get Paypal set up, at least, fer cryin' out loud!

Lesson 2: Don't announce the business expecting not to get an almost immediate order. It happens. No matter how obscure your product may be, or how limited the market. I score highly on both points. Announced the business, got an immediate sale. Spent the weekend fighting with Paypal to get it set up. Next time, try it the other way around, genius.

So ... what else can you guys tell me so I don't have to thrash around learning stuff about running a small business the hard way?

I've got the name submitted for availability with the state of Texas. How long does that sort of thing take, anyone know?

 

[13COBRA]

Dont hire employees. Haha

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[PaxtonShelby]

Good luck sir! Exciting stuff!

 

[STAMPEDE3]

Stay on top of paper work and taxes and stuff.
Do not fall behind or put it off thinking you will get caught up next week.

 

[SID297]

Don't confuse action with accomplishment.

 

[svtfocus2cobra]

Stay on top of paper work and taxes and stuff.
Do not fall behind or put it off thinking you will get caught up next week.

This. Stay organized and build daily habits to complete everything you need to keep you caught up for the day. If you tell yourself you will just do it later, dont do that, do it and get it out of the way as soon as possible. As you get busier it will get really easy to start to lose track of little things which can eventually lead to loss of payments or just bleeding money in general. With that, keep files on each customer where you put details of the work performed that is updated with any changes. Then when work is completed a copy of the final invoice and receipts which you can then file away once the work is done and payed for. Depending on volume, create a box that has customers from each month, quarter, year, etc so you can easily go back and find the records.

You may feel you are in order but a lot of times the customers or other companies you work with are not so they may have accounting errors they will try and pin on you so you want to be able to provide all documentation right then and there.

 

[buffalosoldier]

watch out for paypal, we have an online business and they love to hang on to your money way to long..

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[James Snover]

Speaking of taxes, is there any tax-management software you guys can recommend for the one-man business?

 

[James Snover]

Don't confuse action with accomplishment.

Are we talking business? 'Cause that's my entire life, in a nutshell.

With a lot of reading.

 

[nxhappy]

ALWAYS look for new customers. IE don't put all your eggs in one basket. 2 types of customers: customers you don't have, and customers you are going to lose. Always strive for new clients. Also, never disregard "small" overhead costs .... $20 a day x 261 working days = $ 5220 (you get the idea)

 

[svtfocus2cobra]

Speaking of taxes, is there any tax-management software you guys can recommend for the one-man business?

I dont think this will directly answer your question but we used Peachtree which can keep track of everything financial for your business, but we switched to Quickbooks because it is way better and does more. We would keep track of everything through one of those programs and then send it to an outside accounting agency to get it all in order and file taxes for us. But those programs are probably what you are looking for.

 

[buffalosoldier]

there is a biz in Louisville called El Toro, they have digital marketing figured out. they can move the needle.

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[STAMPEDE3]

QuickBooks. And get started soon. Wait too long and you will have to go back and enter lots of info.

Also to add to my "Stay on top of things", Even if you get to the point where others help/run things for you ALWAYS stay up and on top of the books. NEVER trust anyone (I don't care how close you are to them) with your money.

I speak from experience. I can do the work, I just sucked at running the business side.
If you can't do both then at least run the business side and pay someone else to do the work. NEVER the other way around.

 

[buffalosoldier]

my boss made the accountant a partner. CFO.

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[Revvv]

Depending upon the business, an attorney is a great asset.

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[svtfocus2cobra]

QuickBooks. And get started soon. Wait too long and you will have to go back and enter lots of info.

Also to add to my "Stay on top of things", Even if you get to the point where others help/run things for you ALWAYS stay up and on top of the books. NEVER trust anyone (I don't care how close you are to them) with your money.

I speak from experience. I can do the work, I just sucked at running the business side.
If you can't do both then at least run the business side and pay someone else to do the work. NEVER the other way around.

I can attest to this from experience. I didnt own the business I speak from but I ran most of it from the time of conception. In the beginning I didnt deal with the accounting, my boss let his girlfriend do it because she had experience with it. She knew what she was doing but at some point he really pissed her off and she literally just stopped paying the bills. I kept asking her about them and she said they were fine and that she pays them at the end of the month. I didnt know any better at the time so I believed she was handling it. Next thing we know we are getting letters in the mail every day about overdue payments. She got us half a million in the hole before my boss caught onto it. I dont work there anymore but I spent the next 2 years learning how to keep the place in business as we worked our way out of it. By the time I left they still owed about $100k to various vendors and of course the IRS. Definitely dont let things go unchecked. If I had known what I know now I would have caught it before it got out of hand.

 

[Blown 89]

Speaking of taxes, is there any tax-management software you guys can recommend for the one-man business?

Quickbooks. I have one business that uses the desktop version and another that uses mobile. I prefer the desktop version by a very large margin. As others have said, keep up with your books.

My advice. People are replaceable. Don't hesitate to let a bad employee go. If you do it will be too late. I hesitated in February and that two timing piece of shit set himself even better to take a lot of clients. If you fire someone you will always find someone better.

My father is a business investor too. He taught me to trust yourself and take chances. Stagnation and doubt will kill your company.

 

[Kevins89notch]

Don't take on more business than you can handle/manage. A happy customer might tell 2 friends, but a pissed off one will tell 20.

 

[BigPoppa]

Don't take on more business than you can handle/manage. A happy customer might tell 2 friends, but a pissed off one will tell 20.

I'll further this point and say to know when to walk away from taking business from a client.

Some clients aren't worth the headache.

 

[CobraBob]

Speaking of taxes, is there any tax-management software you guys can recommend for the one-man business?

What type of tax are you asking about? Sales & Use Tax? Corporate Tax? Business Entity Tax? All of them?

With the changing sales tax laws, gone are the days pretty much where you only had to collect sales tax where you had a physical presence. So get ready for some fun with collecting, remitting and filing. You might want to look at TaxJar for that.

If you haven't already done so, register as an LLC. There are services that will help you get set up and help with the filing for the other taxes I mentioned, as well as your Annual Report. I used Incorporate.com. It was worth the annual fee. During that first year I made a note of the various filings done with the state, and did not renew the service. I documented during that first year what taxes were due, and when, as well as how to file my Annual Report. For example, my Business Entity Tax is due every other year, so it's noted in my documentation and on my Outlook calendar. Easy! I'm able to do all the various filings with the state myself. My calendar reminds me when various taxes/reports are due, and my documentation shows me what forms are needed. I go online with the state (CT) to file. Again, pretty easy. I'm a sole proprietor with a small business so I can do this in-house and easily. For a larger business with employees, it gets more difficult to DIY.