HGG Community Forums

Don't be that person that tries to sell to friends and family. It makes everyone on both sides uncomfortable. Don't worry about proving your product against anyone else. Just go out and do the best you can and do it with sincerity. Be your own brand and don't worry about others.

As for advertising, research like mad and learn to understand why ads work versus don't work and make sure your ads are targeted at the people who will actually buy your product.

First get in touch with your tax advisor or find one so you understand immediately if you need any licensing or permitting and what the withholding policies are in your area. :) Trying to do personal and business taxes yourself invites mistakes and unnecessary audits. At least where I am, it's way too convoluted. Document everything and KEEP your receipts!

Keep your personal accounts separate from your business accounts. It makes accounting and audits A LOT easier. Pay yourself out of your business account into your personal account. It doesn't have to be a per bank "business" account that you pay out the nose for if you don't expect a lot of repeated deposits/withdrawals right off. I use a separate personal account for my petsitting since I don't have a lot of regular deposits/withdrawals. Saves $15/mo.

Understand the demand for what you are starting, where that demand has to come from and keep several back-up plans in mind. My petsitting is entirely dependent on my clients ability and willingness to go on vacation. The understanding and anticipation that it could tank out like it has this year led me to save the majority of what I earn petsitting in prior years and to maintain an essential full time job and a second seasonal job to pay regular expenses. So while my income isn't what I hoped for this year, I haven't been hurt nearly as bad as a lot of business owners that depend solely on their own business.

I examine my clientele from year to year as well. Who repeats calls and are basically who pay for my company to run? Am I retaining clients who only go out once a year? Am I concerned that the pets (and people) I'm sitting for are getting older and will I soon get a call from that client that I am not going to get another call because of a sadness? You will have to actively generate "foot traffic" until you have enough clients that refer to you.
My original clientele actually came referred from my full time job. Then I branched out on as many secure networking sites I could for free. They continue to be significant sources of new clients so I maintain those connections.

Understand and use contracts, releases, invoices and receipts to protect yourself and your clients depending on what you are planning to do.
Get insurance and understand it carefully. Especially if your business handles clients homes, belongings or personal info.
Clients like protection!

Understand the terms "going concern", "overhead" and "the cost of doing business" carefully. They are a strong measure of whether your business is succeeding.
Your business should be paying for itself before it's paying for anything involved in your personal/family life. It's ability to do this is the basic breakdown of being a "going concern".

Overhead is any expense involved in doing business: rent, insurance, raw resource, utilities, maintenance of equipment. Document everything!

The cost of doing business is any loss of capital (money you put in) put into your overhead that ensures you are operating your business consistently in line with the goals you set for it. A trainer in animal control explained it like this: he purchases cartridges to deliver sedation for large animals. He has generated a chart for his equipment that details the exact distance he can expect a specific weight of cartridge will go (critical to being accurate). He will throw away any cartridge he buys which does not weigh exactly within the range specified for the distances he expects. He will throw away the money he spent on those "faulty" cartridges to ensure he is using equipment that will deliver safe anesthesia for his patients.

Just do what you hope to do well and keep learning about it and your clients will notice Your quality. :)

Definitely second figuring out your CODB (cost of doing business)!! I've been running my own photography business for a few years now, and I'm finally at the point where I'm getting booked at least a few times a month. Figuring out my CODB helped me get to the point where now photography pretty much pays for my goats' hay and my own gas, as well as the occasional other purchases (I have a backup job).

Definitely invest in education, too, and push for quality over quantity! You could make a million coffee tables, but if they look cheap it'll be hard to sell them. Adding onto that, make sure you're charging an amount that draws the right clients to you rather than price shoppers. If you want to make $x amount a month, make sure you're attracting the kind of people who will pay $y amount per product.

Looper and Ammit already hit a lot of good points. Also, make sure you invest in education, too! If there's a relatively low-cost workshop/webinar/etc. to help improve your work, participate! YouTube is great as well. I took an intro-level business class that helped me figure out different ways to brand myself and marketing techniques, so I highly recommend something like that if you can.

Good luck!