So many people out there have hobbies that they enjoy doing, on weekends or time off from work, and some of them even dream about doing their hobby full time. We've worked with several clients who have turned their hobby into a business, and sometimes it might not be a full time business at first, but who wouldn't like being paid for what you love to do anyway. Look at businesses like fishing guides or skydiving businesses, the people who run those businesses aren't your everyday business people, they are people who loved something so much, they decided to make it their business, and since work takes a big chunk of your time, why not do something you love.

The first step in making your hobby your business is to write a business plan. It might not be a detailed business plan, but you need an outline of what needs to be done and how you plan to accomplish these tasks.

Including in that plan should be whether you're going to form an LLC, form a corporation or simply file for a DBA; your marketing plan, which these days has a lot to do with your online presence. Once your business plan is in place, you can hire a company, such as ours, to take care of a lot of the parts of getting the business up and running, or do it yourself. If you're going to be doing any of the tasks yourself, be sure to set up deadlines for every task. Too many times people will start something, only to leave it sitting forever, unfinished, where if they just gave themselves some sort of deadline, they could make it work. If you have any questions about making your personal hobby a business, give us a call at 866-999-8200.

We've touched on the subject before, but now we want to stress the importance of creating a website for your small business, regardless of your business type. As this generation gets older and the new generations are more tech savvy, ways of marketing your business are going almost completely digital. It's probably been quite a while since you opened up a big yellow phone book to look up any type of business, are they even in production anymore? These days everyone takes to the internet to search for what they're finding, and if your business doesn't have a presence on the internet, chances are your business will not be found other than by means of word of mouth. Because we're expanding our services to include all aspects of small business, along with our regular LLC and corporation filings as well as DBA filings, we're also now providing design services through our sister company, LogoBang. Should you need a website built, a logo design or questions about any type of design services, we're here to help, contact us at 866-999-8200.

Wendy Crocquet Lieber recently wrote a great article for the Hollywood Gazette on small business marketing about reconnecting with your passions, and though the read is short it's got to have you question exactly what your business is offering to clients and if it's too much. She uses the show "Kitchen Nightmares" as an example, and though I've never seen the show, she explains quite well what happens. In a nutshell, a renowned chef visits restaurants and identifies their signature dish then proceeds to get rid about half of the menu, and both customers and restaurants workers, especially the kitchen workers as it is less demanding on them, and customers are happy not because they have less choices but because they don't have too many choices which is often confusing. Reasons why businesses like In-N-Out thrive is because they have a simple menu and they are good at what they do, if they introduced pizza to their menu it might not be as good as their burgers, because that is their one signature dish. When a business, whether food or not, has too many options, clients often feel overwhelmed, and the business is usually only marginally good at the many things they provide, rather than being really good at a few things. When you're starting an llc or a corporation it's important to narrow down the one, two, three things that you will specialize in and go with that, it should be something that your passionate about too. Another example of good business is law firms, there are law firms that specialize in family court, law firms that specialize in criminal cases, you would go to either one for another type of case. So the point is to find the one thing you are good at, and try to be great at that one thing!

We've made it to the double digits with our business tips! In this post we'll discuss the value of "free." The other day I was thinking about swtiching from Time Warner to DirecTV, DirecTV seems to have better offers but in the end I didn't switch not only because I didn't want to hassle with having a technician come to my home, taking time off work in order to to have that done and take all my equipment back to Time Warner, no I didn't switch because Time Warner provides me with "free" HDTV, sure their premiums are a little higher, which I'm assuming goes towards the cost of the HDTV channels, but I don't see an HDTV charge on my statement, and Time Warner's marketing campaign is telling everyone that will listen about their "free" HD. In the end the amount I would save by switching to DirecTV wouldn't be enough to make me want to go through that hassle, because in the end, Time Warner's product is just fine.

When thinking about how to get people talking about your business you should give something away "free." It may be something that only costs you a few cents if anything, but by labeling the service or product as "free" it gives the consumer a sense of value. Try and stray away from "free" things such as pens and notepads, as they're too often lost or thrown away, and might not really say anything about your business. For example, if you're running a small cafe, you might want to once in a while give your regular's a free cup of coffee, you can print business sized cards for relativley cheap online these days, get a unique stamp and maybe you can give away the 6th coffee for free once the customer has received five stamps. Very simple, yet very effective, if your customer comes to your store a few times a week it'll almost certain they're not gonna go somewhere else to get their coffee if they've already got four stamps.

You don't have to give out actual "products" for free either, a lot of companies are taking to the web to hold "webinars" to demonstrate or give advise over the web, in the day it's easy for the masses to find you, but when they find you, you'll want to have something to say. Holding a webinar, even if it's a short one can really get people talking about your company, especially if you have information they won't find so easily. The most important thing is to demonstrate value in whatever you're doing, and that's whether you're giving your service out for free or not, value must always be perceived in order for people to come back and do business with you.

If you're thinking about starting your own business or incorporating a business you already have please give us a call and please mention this blog post.

When starting a new business it's important to have a plan. Some people jump into business because they have a great product but don't really think of the business side of things. If you're not going to split your focus between your product or service it's important to bring someone in that you trust with business aspects.

Alot of people prefer to have their CPA take care of taxes and other loose ends when starting a business, and it's a wise move. If you're working by yourself, you want to stay in compliance, not only with the state, but the city and county as well.

Another way to get around having someone help you is to take a business class at a community college if you do not have any business experience, many colleges even offer weekend workshops focusing on business.

Once you've got all your basics out of the way, you should focus on marketing, any new business wants the world to know they exist, if you're starting a service or retail store, it's imporant to be found online, you should create a website or some kind of web presance, lots of small businesses only rely on websites like Yelp, which can be really helpful (or hurtful if your service isn't up to par). It's important to have a plan when it comes to your marketing strategies also, if you're in a metorpolitan area, it's not uncommon to see businesses handing out fliers or coupons to their store or restaurant, sure you might have to give a little to gain a client, but if your product or service is good, they'll come back.

There are lots of things to think about when starting a business, so organization is key, keep that in mind.