October 11, of 32 Chief Executive Officer of Diddly Squat (or So you want to be the boss, are you sure?) By Leeland Artra

October 11, of 32 Small Businesses Represent >99% of all employers Employ 51% of private-sector, 51% of public assistance, and 38% of high-tech occupations Represent nearly all of the self-employed, which are 7.0% of the civilian work force Provide ~75% of the net new jobs Provide 51% of the private sector output Represent 96% of all exporters of goods Obtain 33.3% of all federal contract dollars Are 53% home-based and 3% franchises American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.

October 11, of 32 Why Are You Here? You are thinking about starting a business. By the end of this you should: Understand the basics requirements of starting, running and growing your own business; and Know where to go for more detailed information There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.

October 11, of 32 Why am I here? On and off consultant for 16 yrs On and off Director (Lead) 6 years Created and operated consulting, retail sales, IT outsourcing and services companies Raised by a CPA and a computer consultant Need some consulting referrals and thought this would be good marketing No one else volunteered Men can read smaller print than women.

October 11, of 32 What Was Asked For, Legal What is required by law to set up and run a business? How you protect yourself from litigation How do you patent/copyright/protect processes that you might like to sell, that may have elements that are public domain (use publicly available tools). Where do you sign up to be a company? Consulting contracts - any boilerplate examples? Gotchyas of sole proprietorships, LLCs, Corps, etc. By law, in Thailand, it is illegal to leave your house if you are not wearing underwear.

October 11, of 32 What Was Asked For, Marketing How do you generate leads? (i.e. B2B, B2C, marketing) How to best get your name out there and get noticed? How do you determine price? I never built a booby trap that didn't catch at least one booby.

October 11, of 32 What Was Asked For, Accounting What information do you need to provide to whom to get a tax number? How to keep the books straight, (especially if there is any software that runs on a real kernel). What's the difference between a tax number and a business license? Do you need, or should you have, a separate bank account for a sole proprietorship? Knowledge of everything about taxes, especially how to minimize them. Are there tax differences between working as an individual and operating a sole proprietorship? It's Production or it's Not Exactly.

October 11, of 32 Defining the Problem So you want to be the boss. Why? Tired of taking orders from someone who doesnt have a clue; Tired of rush hour traffic; Hate office politics; Positive you can make a room full of money to swim in; or Want to make a little side money. If you come up with the right business idea! Chewing gum while peeling onions keeps your from crying.

October 11, of 32 Advantages of Being The Boss Youre the Boss You make the business decisions Greater feelings of self-worth Flexible working hours Higher income and equity Direct contact with customers, employees, suppliers, and others Opportunities develop your own ideas Living by doing something you truly enjoy Common cause for the whole family "How can they possibly understand what we need when they don't understand what we do?" Manager of a credit approval department

October 11, of 32 Disadvantages of Being The Boss Financial risk Long, hard hours (Spare time?) Spendable income? The buck stops with you Growing successful business means you spend your time on: Human Resources Issues Legal & Contract Issues Accounting & Tax Management Marketing "If everything is under control, you are going too slow." Mario Andretti

October 11, of 32 Take Some Time and Assess Consider your knowledge related to these three areas of the business you will be starting: Marketing Technical skills Financial Marketing Barophobia - fear of gravity.

October 11, of 32 Dont Fool Yourself Starting, taking over or just adding a little side work with a business you can expect: Harder and longer hours; No days off or extended vacations; No free Holidays; hour work weeks; and Little or almost no money. Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. Mark Twain

October 11, of 32 Business Ideas Before starting figure it all out (in writing) ANY idea can be a profitable business so long as: You know how to do it and can do it well; LIKEYou LIKE to do it and will not mind doing it day after day; It has enough appeal to sell on a steady basis; It can be sold at a price that covers all expenses, overhead and profit; and You have or can get sufficient funds to get started and run until profits are available. Anything worth doing is worth doing for money. Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #13

October 11, of 32 Initial Business Requirements Planning Preparation Reserve Funds (at least a years worth) Courage, Determination & Persistence Marketable Skills and/or Idea(s) and/or Product(s) and/or Service(s) Clients (they have to exist somewhere) Network of friends and colleagues Once you have their money, never give it back. Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #1

October 11, of 32 Starting Up Requirements Required Skills Plan A Plan B An Attorney An Accountant A Bank An Insurance Provider Licenses & Permits It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's supply of footballs.

October 11, of 32 Successful Business Skills Your Product Project Planning Writing & Grammar Skills Personal Hygiene (seriously) Dress Selection Communication & Negotiation Skills Constant Retraining Insanity is doing things in the same way and expecting different results.

October 11, of 32 Legal Issues By LAW: You must apply for a license You may or may not need a FEIN You may have to file taxes quarterly You have a lot of reading… State of Washington Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example. Mark Twain

October 11, of 32 Litigation & Protection An Attorney is the best bet Have your own contracts Try to use your contracts instead of clients Patent / Copyrights (talk to your lawyer) Have NDA; or If you talked about it to ANYONE you have 1 year to patent it. Treat your business like a business not a hobby "99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name." Unknown

October 11, of 32 Structure of the Company Just you = sole proprietorship All you have is up for grabs Not a lot of extra requirements Tax benefits are pretty good More then one person... Partnership, Corporation, or a Limited Liability Company? Your milage will vary, talk it over with your lawyer and CPA Research everything: Bank Accounts, Taxes, Liability, Securities exchange law, etc. The purpose of the indentation at the bottom of a wine bottle is to strengthen the structure of the bottle and to trap the sediments in the wine.

October 11, of 32 Marketing Contributing is Marketing Reputation is EVERYTHING loyal, honest, trustworthy, prompt, etc. Current customer = 16 x $New Leads: Get referrals from others Recruiters Cold and Warm Calls When Needed SPAM and die Keep your lies consistent. Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #60

October 11, of 32 Sales Set your rates correctly (read 36.8% Overhead or Money, the Bottom Line, by Steve Simmons) Dont be afraid to bill Dont work for bad customers Dont take bad jobs Dont expect bills to be paid on time Never let the competition know what youre thinking. Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #85

October 11, of 32 When the Client Doesnt Pay Call the manager Call their accounts payable Call their CFO / President Have your lawyer send them a letter Stop work at first sign of trouble Find a collection agency you can sell the debt to Even in the worst of times someone turns a profit. Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #162

October 11, of 32 Accounting Keep everything Write all over everything Learn what you must have & do Get and read the IRS 1040 long form Get and read the IRS 1040c (business portion) Little envelopes work great Keep 5 years of data (make it a written policy to destroy old records and DO IT) Over 2,500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people.

October 11, of 32 Accounting Software Find an accounting package and USE it QuickBooks is both inexpensive and user friendly for non accountants. Keeps billing information, Accounts Receivables, out of pocket expenses, and recording expenditures is just like writing a check, in fact you can actually print your checks direct from the package. Peachtree is a little more sophisticated. If you have a CPA or accountant ASK what they use to make moving data back and forth easier. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left handed people do.

October 11, of 32 FEIN Federal Employer Identification Number Tax ID like a Social Security Number for your business. Only sole-proprietorships do not need one If you have employees YOU MUST HAVE ONE Get one by filing a SS4 The letters KGB stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti.

October 11, of 32 Tax Number vs. business license ID A tax number is your ID to the Feds, your state UBI number is just a UID for the state You business will also get an Unemployment Account number (this is pretty important) One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet.

October 11, of 32 Separate Bank Accounts The answer is always YES Keeping company money separate from your personal money provides some sheilding Cleaner accounting records Sole Proprietorships can start with a mixed account If your business has a FEIN it needs its own account "If you don't have time to do it right you must have time to do it over." Anonymous

October 11, of 32 Some Excellent Internet Stops Small Business Administration: SAGE Best Of Site (has some excellent consulting Articles): Excellent Venture Capital Library for new small businesses: Celeste and Peter Stokely are always a good resource: The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

October 11, of 32 Thank You To The Contributors Paul English Steve Hastings Robert Miller Leon Towns-von Stauber Bill Wichgers "The average person thinks he isn't." Father Larry Lorenzoni

October 11, of 32 Quotes All the quotes came from my personal collection gathered from lots of sources. Some places to find more quotes are: Witty Wisdom Quotes: Online Quotes: Witty Quotes: Witty, Thought-Provoking, and Humorous: Funny Facts: Avoid fruits and nuts. You are what you eat. Jim Davis (Garfield the Cat)

October 11, of 32 Bibliography 36.8% Overhead or Money, the Bottom Line on Consulting, by Steve Simmons, ;login:, Volume 21 #4. There is light at the end of the tunnel: Profitable Strategies in Online Retailing Dr Jacques Bughin, McKinsey & Company and Free University of Brussels, Avenue Louise, 480, B-Brussels, Belgium, Michael Zeisser, McKinsey &Company, 55East 52nd Street, New-York, NY, USA, Various Small Business Documents from the SBA Home: Being Your Own Boss seminar given by Celeste Stokely at LISA '96 (Chicago, IL, Sept-Oct 1996): ftp://ftp.stokely.com/pub/lisa96.being.your.own.boss.slides.pdf. Various articles and references at With many thanks to The School of Hard Knocks. "Copy from one, its plagiarism; copy from two, its research." Wilson Mizner ( )

October 11, of 32 In Conclusion Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.