Creating a logo is an important part of starting a small business. It’s the calling card of your business name so it should be memorable and unique. It’s going to be displayed on your business cards, invoices, letter heads, website, and advertisements.  Customers see a businesses logo as an extension of your business and from it they will judge your seriousness and professionalism.

For the computer repair business I’m starting, I decided to tackle the logo design process right after I registered my business name.  This is partly because I’m a superficial graphic design geek and I love me some nice sleek logo goodness. Also, I thought it was important to have a good logo in order to present a professional look for my computer support business right from the start.  I wanted to make sure people understood I’m not messing around with this.

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We’re in a recession right?  That’s what all the talking heads on TV keep telling me. That’s what the little squiggly red line that’s dipping down to the lowest point in decades seems to suggest.

But there’s a different story being told by the folks in the trenches.  These folks are chanting the battle cry of the small business owner.  They’re singing the song of the blogger using creativity to earn money from multiple income streams.  They’re the mom and pop shop down the street putting their customers first, laughing at the fat cat corporations that are falling apart at the seams because of greed.

Take a look at the following blog posts that I have come across over the last couple weeks.  They all suggest that this is one of the best times to start or grow a business.  Coincidence?  Maybe.  But I think these bloggers are all riding the common wave of optimism that appears to be growing in the small business community, even as the world feels the pressure of some intangible economic deficit.

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In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Earlier this week I made a case for why Business Plans are a waste of time for part time entrepreneurs. Now I’d like to present you with an alternative to the formal business plan.  It’s my anti-business plan, and it’s what I’ve been using ever since I realized that a business plan was not for me.  Since then I’ve been ultra-focused on getting my business going without all the frustrations and distractions that I had before.

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Almost every “start your own business” guide out there seems to have one piece of advice in common: you MUST have a business plan. In order to grow a successful business, they say, you need to have every aspect planned before you start.  While I agree that this may be true for someone who will be launching a full-scale small business that they will rely on as their sole income, but for those of us starting a business part time on the side, a business plan is a waste of time.  Before you start writing a nasty comment telling me I’m doomed to failure for not properly planning my business, let me present my case.

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I’m at the point in my business planning where I need to start thinking about setting the prices I charge for my services.  It’s been a struggle for me to decide how much I feel my services should be worth.  Reading books, blogs, and forums on the subject, the general consensus seems to be that there is a happy medium between undercutting the major competition without shooting so low that people wont take you seriously.

I’ll take you through the process I used in order to come up with my prices.  Although this process is specifically for my business as a computer consultant, I’ve tried to make the ideas broad enough that they can apply to almost any business in the service industry.

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In one of my first posts here on Y.F.N.C.G., I outlined the first first few things I plan on doing to get my computer business up and running.  Up to this week I had completed four of them:

Have a business plan
Come up with a name
Register the business name
Start finding ways to make money

And now, this week, I have reached another important milestone in the preparation of my business, opening a bank account for my business.  If you’re wondering why I think establishing a business bank account is necessary so early in the planning process, I’ve listed some of my reasons.
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I’ve recently finished the advertising plan for my part-time computer consulting business and I thought I’d share it with you.   It’s really quite simple.  I’ve identified 5 marketing strategies that I will implement, over the next 6 months or so, that should cost very little money, if any at all.  I think these are great strategies for those who are starting a business while still working full-time at a “day job” or for high school and college students looking to make some extra cash by moonlighting as their own neighborhood’s computer guy.
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I found an interesting thread on a forum the other day.  The thread begins with a young man nicknamed ”clutch” asking the forum members for their advice on the steps necessary to prepare for a new computer repair business.  He proudly lists some things he’s considered acquiring before he beings, things like spare parts, repair tools, boot disks.   Soon thereafter one of the seasoned vets of the forum, “Prime Suspect”, gives him this piece of advice:

“I hate to be so blunt about it, but discussing and planning and thinking and nailbiting doesn’t get a business to be successful. Every second that you spend planning it and asking for advice is wasted time. ”

You can read the full thread here.

A bit of a harsh statement, but it reaffirms something that I recently discovered.  I, too, had a lot in common with “clutch”, spending hours gathering information and formulating plans.  While I think some planning is necessary, and a new business is not the sort of thing to jump into blindly, too much preparation can also be a hindrance to forward progress.

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Business Name Blues is a 3-part series in which I talk about the experiences I had in naming my business and give tips based on lessons I’ve learned in the process. Part 1 explores choosing the business name. Part 2 looks into the online aspect of business naming. Part 3 closes with the legal and tax steps necessary to ensure your business name is protected. Also, as I go through each part, I will be updating the Resources page with a Business Naming section to assist you with resources and links to help you make the right moves when naming your business.

Don’t miss the end of this article where I summarize all I’ve learned with a list of 8 easy steps to naming your business!

Not Quite Done Yet

Come up with a good name for my business. Check!  Register my business website domain.  Check!  Time to start mailing fliers and knocking on doors right?  Not so fast! (more…)

Business Name Blues is a 3-part series in which I talk about the experiences I had in naming my business and give tips based on lessons I’ve learned in the process. Part 1 explores choosing the business name. Part 2 looks into the online aspect of business naming. Part 3 closes with the legal and tax steps necessary to ensure your business name is protected.  Also, as I go through each part, I will be updating the Resources page with a Business Naming section to assist you with resources and links to help you make the right moves when naming your business.

The Shady Underbelly

Proud of accomplishing the first task on the road to establishing my business by coming up with a good name, the next step I took was to register the domain name for my new company, Jiffy-PC.  In hind sight, I should have waited to do this until after I got the name registered with my State first (you’ll find out why in part 3), but I was excited to get my website registered because I had already had experience with domain name registration.  Finally,  something about starting a business that I knew how to do!  Not so fast!  As it turns out, this would be my first exposure to the shady underbelly of the domain name registration scene. I learned a lot during this process and at the end of this post, I’ll give you some tips that may help you if you ever run into this kind of situation.
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