There’s no better time to turn your hobby into a thriving business on the web. That’s pretty much what I did right here. Anybody who has money to spend in the world is probably attached to a computer. More and more people are buying stuff online as we all turn our backs on greedy big business. Small, cottage-industry style operations (some in the form of BLOGs) are slowly taking over. TV companies are jumping the shark, making terrible shows and losing money to internet advertising hand over fist. Their insecurity has forced them to actually advertise the benefits of TV advertising on TV. It’s cheaper to advertise on the web than it is on television plus only the most relevant buyers are seeing your ad.

Aye, these are heady days for internet start-ups. If you feel a strong desire to sack your boss, and you answer no to most of these questions, you might need to open a business.

1. Are you happy at work?

If you’re not happy in your job and / or you felt the same way in your previous job, then maybe it’s you! Stop wasting time. Perhaps you’re a born freelancer. Freelancers are free spirits who don’t really like being told what to do. Why put up with this job when you can make one of your own? And keep the profit. If you work from home, you can even get tax benefits towards your rent and some food / electricity costs.

2. Is your boss making money off you?

There’s nothing worse than a happy boss – one who has just made a bunch of bills selling your work to someone else. You can do that yourself. The whole point of being in business is to make money. Employee time is bought and then sold at a profit and that profit can sometimes be your loss.

3. Do you work too many hours?

You’ve worked for the man long enough and for enough hours in the day. Maybe it’s time to work for yourself. If you wanna be da man.

4. Do you have burning ambition?

Drawing a wage every week isn’t going to get you closer to that dream of being a dancer, a web designer or an architect. Maybe bailing work and going back to study is an option. Jump and the parachute will magically appear. In other words, learn to trust yourself. You’ve come this far.

5. Do you want to get paid 3x your current rate?

Maybe more. When you work for yourself, you keep the profit. The down side of freelancing is that when you don’t work – you don’t get paid. My hourly rate may be $80/hr as a web designer, but some weeks I may only get 10 billable hours. Freelancers need to manage their time very efficiently (it’s not always easy to do).

6. Paying too much tax?

When you’re on a salary, your boss claims all your work perks – the computer, the car, maybe even your suit. They’re all a business expense. You could be doing that.

7. Feel like a sicky?

Being your own boss means that your time is your own. If you want to go shopping on a Thursday afternoon, you can. But do remember that you don’t get paid to go shopping.

8. Feeling duped by Superannuation?

Too many people lost more than half of their retirement income in the last few years due to the GFC (global financial crisis). The only people who benefited from this crash were Bank CEOs who bailed with golden handshakes paid by the taxpayer. The money paid into Super was never meant for you. Someone got away with the pot.

9. Wanna own the means of production?

In your own business you get to buy at trade rates and keep the gear. You write off depreciation on electrical items and you get to play your own swivel chair.

10. Is your boss an idiot?

Does your boss tend to load up your in-tray just because he’s had a bad day? Does she blame you for things which were her responsibility? Is your boss mid-divorce and taking personal issues out on the office. Maybe your boss is just another insecure man promoted out of harm’s way and enjoying his power trip.

You don’t have to put up with bosses in your own business. You’ll have clients and some can be painful. But clients don’t have your balls in a bear trap. Your relationship with a client (or customer) is an equal trading relationship where both parties stand to gain a lot from their time together. And besides, you can always choose your client.

In Conclusion

Working freelance isn’t for everyone. Setting up a business, finding your market and then employing people might mean you end up working 80 hours per week in the first year. Every now and then, there’s a lull in business. Especially after Christmas. If you don’t like a client, you can sack him and not feel bad about it later.

Good luck.

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But exactly how honest ought we be? Do we reveal everything about ourselves?

I recently built www.cavepictures.net for Cave Pictures – a 3D graphic design business which does architectural and mining company animations as well as computer modelling etc. This client, like myself, works mostly alone and from home. The front page of the site had a nice space set aside for a picture of the business premises, an address and phone number etc.. I told the client to go outside and take his best pic. He took a lovely, flattering picture of his new home which we put up on the website – with the street address.

A week went by. I had some further dealings with this client and we were both vaguely worried that the picture didn’t look professional enough. I work at home so I also have the same problem. We don’t have an office building or an entry foyer we can proudly display on our front pages – just our work. So we decided to just snap off a few nice pics. Just the client sitting at the computer, working with a smile. Everybody wants to see the guy they’re buying off, right? The picture looked good, so we took away the address and just put in a phone number and his name.

Again, some time passed and we both felt it just wasn’t right. It didn’t feel “authentic” enough.

I emailed my Third Tribe Associates, some of whom are big players in the marketing world (not my forte). Just how much can we say on Twitter and on our websites to potential new clients. They told me a bunch of interesting things:

1. Being boring is the greatest sin in marketing. Don’t be boring. Probably the biggest mistake you could make is to try [to come over as] some corporate drone.

and

2. By being true to yourself, the clients that don’t like you don’t “knock” [on your business door]. That is a great thing in my book. Those that do like you will knock and probably more loudly. And working with them should be more enjoyable.

and

3. I actually fired all my clients years ago because I didn’t like working for people that I didn’t connect with. These were clients I built up by being ‘normal’ and ‘professional’. Those are things I’m usually not so I attracted people I generally didn’t like.

Rob eventually found a picture of himself having a great time while out Rallying. It’s a passion of his. He had the typical Rally Driver “Thumbs Up” and looked very happy in his helmet and rally gear. He uploaded it to the site and suddenly, the authenticity was apparent. Here is a guy who does 3D drawings and animations who also goes rallying for a bobby. The picture just clicked. The site had a real person behind it.

So – I think my business advisors of the Third Tribe are right. Don’t be afraid to show something of yourself to potential clients. They are going to find out how you are anyway, so why not be a little less guarded and give them some idea of the person who they will be dealing with? People do business with other people. Perhaps we should be mindful of that.

business card prototype

I recently moved house. It wasn’t the terrible ordeal I’d expected, but it wasn’t pleasant. I have thousands of books. Most of the move was all about books and book cases. Now that everything is in its right place, today was my first real day on the job.

I’m designing a business card for Cave Pictures (computer animation and video editing). I’d forgotten how much I enjoy fiddling with graphics until I spent the morning playing with a business card and logo design. Rob had already commissioned a logo designer and it was a matter of re-working existing graphics to suit the new business direction. I really had fun doing this, but it’s not quite right. Never mind, one for the folio. Now for draft 2 . . .