I know we keep pestering you to take that first step to start your own business, to add great value to the rest of the world, and to constantly lead by example. But we really think this is your year! The window is open! Unemployment is still low, and corporations are more flexible than ever. Technology is ready for you, the regulatory environment is bearable, the tax structure is still optimal, and a great environment like Percolator Coworking Space https://percolatorspace.com/ is easily accessible. Now is the time for you to be the person you always dreamed you could be. Remember, on our death beds we only regret the things we DID NOT do.
I have an idea. Why don’t you set July 4, 2022, as the date you will launch your new business?
You can execute a responsible and methodical game plan to hit this target. If you are now an electrician working for other contractors, on Independence Day you will roll out your own organization. If you’re a software engineer, by the time you are watching fireworks, you will have launched your own consulting enterprise. If you are in sales, by mid-year you will have negotiated contracts to independently represent only products and services which excite your passion.
Let’s take the next few months to get everything you need in place. You will be surprised at how easy and inexpensive it is. While watching Season 4 of Ozark, you can access https://sos.wyo.gov/Business/ and open your single-member Limited Liability Company (LLC) online in 15 minutes, to include Articles of Incorporation. Use https://corporatedirect.com/ as your registered agent, and you are off and running. Do it yourself instead of large attorney fees, or even Legal Zoom, so you understand how it works. Remember, you are taking back your power! Make a note to also file a simple Annual Report in 12 months.
Spend 10-minutes online with https://www.irs.gov/ and get your Employer Identification Number (EIN) for your new company. If your name or logo is really awesome, you can trademark these at https://www.uspto.gov/ or we can wait on this part until the Chinese begin stealing your Intellectual Property (IP). Open a corporate bank account with https://www.novo.co/ so you don’t have to pay the fees from the big banks.
Download QuickBooks for the Self-Employed so you can easily keep track of the expenses you will now write off your taxes. Come tax time, as a single-member LLC you will simply translate your revenue and expenses to your Schedule C on your personal return. Easy. Later, when you add employees and are printing money, you will do a separate return, K-1’s, and all that.
Next, during Inventing Anna episodes you will create your online presence. At https://www.godaddy.com you will purchase your website name (URL) and have them host your website. You will design your website using one of Go Daddy’s easy plug-n-play templates. Super simple. Then you click over to start your own blog You open a new blog, and twice a week you begin posting something short and simple that will help people in your industry. By next year, they will refer to you as “an expert”.
Now, you are going to gradually dip your toe into this new venture by doing a little work on the side. Steve Strauss wrote in USA Today that nearly 40% of Americans now have a side hustle, and “the average side hustler earns about $8,000 a year.” That pays for a lot of ballet lessons, not to mention braces! We have a friend who sells children’s clothing on the side, another sells Scentsy, and you would be surprised who drives for Uber and Lyft.
During the day, our consulting team hangs out in the https://percolatorspace.com/ cool co-working spot which houses a good number of startups and entrepreneurs doing exactly as above. Now is the time. Grab the opportunity for freedom, challenge, responsibility, and no excuses. Maybe it will go nowhere, maybe it will be a failure, but then again, maybe you will succeed. You don’t have to build Berkshire Hathaway, but at the end of this journey you need to be able to hold your head high, your shoulders back, and claim, “I played the game, and I gave it everything I had.”
Download the movie Defending Your Life this weekend and watch Meryl Streep during her heaven life review. Notice how she overcame fear, so she gets to move onto the next adventure. That’s the point. I will be cheerleading you all the way to Independence Day and beyond! And if you stumble, we all will help you back up to stay in the fight. You can do this!
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” – Margaret Mead
This month’s guest business blog provided by JAM Accelerator, LLC, a Member of the Percolator Space Community.