Day-day running

Day-day running

Evaluating when it’s best to do something in-house and when to outsource it is invaluable -especially in the case of a developer, the temptation to develop all your internal applications is great. Sometimes it’s better to outlay £500 rather than spending many hours not getting paid by clients.

If you’re starting up with more than one person, having some form of blog is a useful method of conveying this information as it means people can easily subscribe to the RSS feeds and keep up-to-date with the latest information with minimum effort. If you use blog software such as DasBlog [www.dasblog.net] you are also able to have different authors on one portal.

While on the subject of blogs, I would recommend setting up a company blog, or at least a personal blog with plenty of references to your main website. These back links will increase your visibility and hence ranking on Google but it will also increase your company’s profile.

I would advise reading my other posts [The Scourge of Google and Public Facing Blogs and Blogging And Competition] which overviews what I see as the pros and cons of blogging. As you’re here reading this, it’s evidence enough as to why you should blog IMHO.

Processes and procedures

Depending on your background, you may not be too interested in the management side of business but it is very important to have a number of management processes in place, you won’t necessarily be able to set these up before you start but as you learn your business, get them in place ASAP.

What sort of processes am I referring to?

• Have a client sign an agreement that outlines the responsibilities of both parties (what you’re going to do for them and what they’re going to do in return –e.g. pay) before you start work for them. Make sure you’re as clear as possible so you can charge for additional services without the client quarrelling with you.
• Depending on the size of the company have the client provide you with a purchase order number. It’s best you ask whatever size the company is as it portrays the image that you’re dealing with larger organisations but the worst they can do is ask you what you mean. A purchase order number is basically a reference in the clients purchase database letting their accounting department know your invoice is on the way in. In many situations it also speeds up payment. When dealing with larger invoices it’s a must because it’s the loosest form of guarantee the person you’re dealing with has informed their accounts department and had the amount authorised.
• After you’ve had a meeting with a client follow it up a few days later with an email/phone call thanking them for their time, make it relevant to the meeting if you can and word it so it requires some form of response from the client. Making this post-meeting contact can be the difference between getting the work and not –in the same way making contact with a recruiting company after your interview thanking them for their time can make the final decision sway your way.
• Have a dedicated admin day. Initially this can be something you do once a month but as your business grows you’ll most likely need to increase this to once a week, as outlined in my previous blog post about setting your rates [Pricing your work] you’ll probably find around two days a week are taken up with adminy type work. People are forever moaning about how boring doing a years accounts is however, if you do break it down to say 2-3hours a week it’s a lot easier It’s important to remain strict with yourself as there’s always something more interesting available ;).
• Invoice regularly! Sounds obvious but it’s important. Depending on your business model, I would recommend setting a day aside every month which is solely for invoicing. I’m not just talking about sending out invoicing, I also mean chasing invoices as you’re bound to have plenty of clients who will delay paying until you really bug them!
• Log payments and receipts –this should be part of your admin day but it’s worth mentioning again. If you log all your receipts and any payments on a weekly basis it should dramatically save that end of year rush trying to find all your receipts for the accountant, if you do it really well it should also save you a few quid!

Team structure

Having someone who’s able to carefully put people in their place and ensure the company is moving in the right direction is important, it’s even more important when friendships are involved. If one of you can’t cut the niceties and point out the obvious you’re more likely to fail from the start.

Having someone who is presentable and can communicate well is intrinsic to getting new business, everyone operates differently but if your new client can’t relate to your representative you’re unlikely to retain them for very long. As James said, if you can’t at the same time tell them to cough up, you’ll probably find yourself with a very low cash flow very quickly.

Getting Employees

This is something that I’m approaching at the moment, so it’s probably best to add in an article later however there is a very good series of articles on Joel on Software [www.joelonsoftware.com] about Finding Great Developers which is a good start [http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FindingGreatDevelopers.html].

The hardest thing you’ll face (if you’re anything like me that is) is loosening that tight grip you’ve got on your business. It’s taken me 3 years but I’m finally allowing Stacey to take over some of the admin work for The Site Doctor in an effort to lighten my work-load (admittedly I should be blogging less too but hey). Accepting that other people work in different ways is a surprisingly hard thing to accept when it’s your own business. I’ve already accepted that if I want my business to grow, I’ll have to put up with someone else’s coding style until we’ve found common ground.

One final point I’ll make here though is (again depending on your business model) you will need to get employees at some point so make some form of provision for them. If you don’t get an employee and try to do all the work yourself forever your business is capped and you’ll more than likely burn out. Someone once told me the perfect business is one that can easily be converted into a franchise.

Business Management

Well put, you need to be able to fall off your bike and get back on again so to speak, you will make mistakes and if you don’t I doubt you’re taking enough risks and so will just end up ticking over, there’s nothing wrong with making mistakes as long as you can learn from them and move on. Listen to your gut instinct and as soon as it turns sour pull out!

Taking an all -or- nothing approach to things, giving it everything you can/need to until the point that your instinct says enough and then cut it off straight away is important.

Be careful, but don’t let your project or company suffer as a result of being prudent. If you’re going to talk to someone that’s in the position to do what you’re proposing (i.e. they have the skills or can buy them) at the very least have them sign an non-disclosure agreement to give you a little backup. If you’re really worried, prepare your material so it gives them the minimum amount of information required for their input and explain your reasons for doing so.

Either way, if you ever discuss a project with someone else (even internal employees) there’s a chance it’ll get stolen. The best advice here is learn from it and move on. If you want to pursue the matter in the courts weigh up whether it will be at the cost of the detriment of your company and/or image.

When I first set out, I had to take a client to court and cutting a long story short settled out of court because I calculated the rest of the time I would spend preparing for court would cost me more than I would be awarded. It’s also worth noting that if the amount is below a threshold (IIRC £5000) you can go through the Small Claims courts which saves you a lot of expense and agro.

Action pack or Empower

Working from home

When you set out, cutting costs is crucial to your long-term success so working from home is an ideal solution, but is it really a good idea? What will happen when a client wants to meet? Will I ever be able to leave work?

Your working environment

Firstly, make sure your office space is as dedicated an office space as possible, I know it’s difficult to spare the space when you live in a 1bed apartment but at least have a desk that allows you to fold away your papers safely. This is doubly as important if you’ve got kids or a loved one as that will take away the opportunity for them to “accidentally” spill a mug of coffee over your latest proposal.

If at all possible, dedicate an entire room –or even a floor if you can spare it to the business, there are a couple of reasons for this, the first is that you’ll be able to rent it to the business and then offset that expense on your tax return, another and I feel more important reason is that you’re able to get into another frame of mind when entering that space. I have an office at the rear of our property which is completely separated from the house with the exception of a small tea hatch. I’ve always felt that this has allowed me to semi-detach* work from home even though they’re within the same boundaries. Where at all possible I avoid mixing the two to re-enforce the segmentation.

*You’ll never really be able to detach from your business –it’s part and parcel of running your own business I’m afraid.

Depending on your personal mentality, having some form of dress code can also help you segment home from work, if you’ve already got a suit from a previous role, why not wear that while at work, then when you get home in the evening change into your home clothes. This may seem wacky but you’re not doing it for others, more so you can mentally detach from work. At the end of the day, you’re working from home so you can wear what you like and the likelihood is no-one will know*.

*I was told an “interesting” fact the other day, apparently it’s been estimated that somewhere in the region of 30% of home-workers work naked. It’s a disturbing thought –especially when you’re on the phone to someone you know works alone. Luckily I can reassure you that I’m not in that 30%. Yet.

Have a routine

Have a routine –this is very important, in the same way you would if you were working for someone else, make sure you’re in work for a given time and stick to it. Luckily, my better half Stacey has a full-time job which means she is up at 0630 every day for work as it is, I’ve forced myself to get up with her and get into the office ASAP which has worked well. It doesn’t matter whether your routine is 0900-1700 or 1700-0900, as long as you stick to it you’ll avoid countless duvet days –remember, when you’re not working, the likelihood is you’re not earning*!

*Again, this depends on your business model!

It is also worth setting yourself a finish time as part of your routine, you’re likely to work over a lot of the time but actually having a time to stop and get your coat gives you a deadline to work towards. There is a great article from Ryan Carson on A List Apart about working 4 days a week [The Four-Day Week Challenge], I think it’s a great idea and one that really is achievable but I agree with him, it's worth accepting that there'll never be enough time to finish everything.

Being the only person in the office I didn’t overly want to leave the office to itself and not having anyone to spend that extra day with (Stacey’s at work), I’ve chosen to make this change in stages. At the moment I’m following Google’s example of 20% time. 20% time is something that Larry and Page adopted from academia but in short, everyone is allowed to dedicate 20% of their working week to something that isn’t part of their day-job. This may be something they’re interested in developing for personal reasons or just an idea that you could profit from.

I’ve found this to be very beneficial to my working week especially when I’m in the middle of a large project, it gives you a little breathing space which in the past has allowed me to work out issues that had me banging my head against the wall. It also makes the weekend feel longer so you can relax more and prepare for the week ahead.

I like this 20% time concept (or as I call it “Fun Fridays”) not only because I'm able to step back from any on-going projects and relax a little more during the weekend (even when working on the weekends) but also because of where it takes me. For instance, a couple of Fridays ago I came up with the idea of writing a “Suggestion Box” -a simple Web User Control that can be added to any future project, it allows the user of the site (usually an admin user I would think) to suggest additions/alterations to the application. The suggestions are then stored in a central database for me to review later. The users can also rate other suggestions (using a little AJAX rating system ;)) so the managers are able to see the most popular ideas and gauge which are worth adding to the system. The plan is to review the (user) based suggestions with the management on a regular basis (even if it's just over email) and generate more work that we wouldn't have otherwise had. Although I identified the idea during the normal working week, had I not had “Fun Fridays” it would still just be an idea.

Having a routine for starting and finishing your day will allow your mind to be in the right frameset and again add another level of segmentation of home and work life. Being able to turn off at a given time and feel that you’re able to relax in the evening is very important.

Won't my clients mind?

In a word: No. I wouldn’t worry too much on having clients come to your house for meetings as depending on your business, I expect you’ll find that the majority of your client face to face meetings will be on site but for those that aren’t, why not check out the local hotels, pubs and coffee houses for a suitable meeting place. Find a couple of options and check them out at various times of the day and week so you know what to expect. Are they quiet? Are the tables big enough? Does it portray the right image for my company?

Many local hotels now offer conference and meeting rooms that include facilities like internet access, tea/coffee and other amenities but they’re at a cost. Alternatively your local Chamber of Commerce is likely to offer the same forms of facility if needed.

Asides from the work/home segmentation, one downside to working from home is that you will get rather cut off from the outside world. This is fine if you have the need for many client meetings or on-site consultancies but can be tough if not. You can easily remedy this by finding your local coffee shop, gym or pub and take a little time each day/week to get out of the office.

There is a new form of business establishing itself at the moment which offers dedicated office space on a monthly retainer so if you choose to work from home for the majority of the month but would still like to retain a little face-to-face contact with the outside world you could check out the serviced offices. Another advantage of having these offices will also mean you meet other businesses.

Telephony

I’ve been working out of an office at the back of the house for 3 years now and it’s the same telephone line, friends and family know this so when they call and I don’t answer, the “Welcome to The Site Doctor” answer machine message doesn’t worry them. I’ve not had any issues with this, the only thing I would recommend is you have Caller Id added and if you can’t remember telephone numbers get a phone/display that has a memory for you, that way you can easily ignore business calls out of hours if you so wish.

Remember that when starting out, it’s important to keep costs as low as possible and although having dedicated office lines is nice, it can also be expensive. Skype is a cheap VOIP solution however I’ve had issues with it’s reliability for Skype-Skype calls in the past so can’t personally recommend it.

Business Plan

At the very least I would recommend it’s worth writing a SWOT analysis, this will give you focus and allow you to visualise your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats more clearly and perhaps spot something that’ll be crucial to your success or failure. Depending on how fast paced your industry is, it’s always worth re-evaluating the SWOT analysis every now and again.

Once you’ve written your SWOT analysis, show your friends, family and colleagues and see if they can add to it at all. Don’t worry if they criticise it, if you can’t justify or argue your point, perhaps it needs a little more thought.

Defiantly, when setting out less is more. It’s easy to setup i.e. a web development business for only a few hundred pounds but by having lower overheads, it will mean as you earn off your first few jobs, you’ll have more to invest in the company.

What benefit is there to your company if you go out and get the best PC, the biggest office with a couple of secretaries and some flash car? In reality you’re more likely to struggle as you’ll be setting off on the back foot. Make sure you carefully weigh up any purchases, perhaps by categorising them into i.e.:

• Need
• Would improve work capacity
• Would like, could perhaps improve work capacity
• Would like but wouldn’t improve work capacity
• Don’t need but look, it’s cool!

If you’ve got investment for the company and can afford to buy all the cool kit from the offset, great but it may be a better idea to keep that for a rainy day. Although I’ve got no proof I’ve always felt that had I not had to earn every penny we had to spend as a business I would have been far more complacent and so lazy and the business wouldn’t be where it is today. Along the same line of thought, I sometimes wonder if I could have done anything differently/better if I did have money to invest at the start and whether it would have got The Site Doctor any further.

This is a very good point, it would be worth noting this down in your targets and goals list [Targets and Goals] as it will give you something to focus on. Think of all expenditures on an annual basis, then when you have the annual expenditure you can work it out on a average number of jobs and/or a monthly figure making it feel more achievable.

Targets and Goals

Personally I can't stress how important targets are enough. Have a set of personal targets as well as business goals -NOT "Make loads of money". The targets should be SMART* (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely), write your targets and goals down somewhere as it commits you, you don't need to read them again just as long as they're there.

*Thanks for the acronym Stacey!

When setting out I had a few:

1. Turnover £500pm for the first 12months (then rising in year two)
2. Pay off all and any accumulated debts that we had (credit cards etc)
3. Go on holiday once a year
4. Be able to buy and afford to run an RX-8 (long story)

Tick them off as you go and add more as needed, they'll give you focus and drive. I would recommend having a selection of goals including something that would appear to be unrealistic as it will give you something to really strive for. It's also worth telling other people about your goals as in an odd way, it commits you to the goals.

A new one on me that I’ll be reading up on tonight! Guanxi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanxi]

At the end of the day, a business plan should enable you to visualise your goals as a business which in turn will allow you to focus your efforts. Don’t panic about not achieving everything at once, prioritise and attack one thing at a time.

Setting your rates

Firstly check out my previous post about how I suggest you go about set your rates [Pricing your work] as it has a great way to quantify your rates with meaning that’s also scaleable.

I agree and this is something that I’ve only come to appreciate relatively recently. When setting out I decided that the first few jobs would be relatively in-expensive to build on our portfolio, this was a real Catch-22 as I felt compelled to deliver amazing results for next to no reward. This temptation is great when you start out. You end up becoming a busy fool, working all the hours given for little financial reward (which limits potential investment in your company). You end up begrudging your clients and if you were to let it continue I would imagine start offering a lower service, or worse decide that running your own company wasn’t a good idea.

We recently re-jigged our pricing structure while analysing where I felt the business could do better and the only difference it has made is to my happiness, I feel far more rewarded for the work I produce. Interestingly the quantity of work being obtained has also increased somewhat dramatically so don’t think that your price will always sway the decision –a lot of the time it’s more about whether the client responds well to you.

It’s also worth pointing out that higher (not extortionate) rates, aren’t always a bad thing, I’ve lost out on pitches before because we’ve been too cheap and the client has opted for a more costly company, this isn’t always the case but oddly being more expensive often suggests you’re better.

Finding a niche isn’t always something you can do when you first set out as until you’re within a market you may not know the market well enough. If you do find a niche however, make sure you run a SWOT analysis on it first, it may not be that no-one else has noticed it, it may just be that others have tried and failed –that’s not to say that you can’t make it work however!

It’s defiantly one of the best things you’ll ever do –I would imagine this still counts even if it goes terribly wrong. I was once told that once you’ve been self-employed you’re effectively unemployable ever again and after having been self-employed for 3 years now I can see what they were getting at. I don’t think it’s so much from an employer’s POV but an employee’s, I would find it very hard to give up the freedom/control myself and so will do almost anything to avoid it!

I think this is a nice place to close this article, so in closing I’ll say that even if it fails you won’t regret trying, it’ll most likely be one of the hardest but also most rewarding and filling things that you’ll ever do. The worst thing you can do is not try and end up forever wondering what if…

Contracts and Terms and Conditions

IIRC as a new business you’re legally entitled to 30 minutes of a solicitor’s time which you should take advantage of. Sadly 30 minutes won’t last very long so prepare a set of your most important questions first. It depends on your local Chamber of Commerce, but when we were a member of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, they used to offer you low level legal support as part of your membership.

Although it may seem a large expense when you’re starting out, I really would recommend getting some form of T&Cs drawn up. Spending a couple of hundred pounds at this early stage is likely to save you a lot of hassle later down the road. It’s also an idea to have a coversheet written up that can accompany the T&Cs which has a few blanks you can fill in. We’ve called this our “Agreement for the provision of service” and it reads along the lines of:

IMHO you can write these yourself as they’re more just a summary of what you’ll be doing for the client in plain English so there’s no argument. I would state the total amount you’re charging –both in numbers and words, any time frames and additional services i.e. hosting.

Make sure you have the client sign two copies of your coversheet before you start any work for the client, you then sign and return one copy for the client’s records. The other, make sure you store somewhere safe (just incase!). I’ve not found clients object to signing T&Cs before work starts as it protects both the user and the client but I have found the coversheet helps clarify things for everyone.

There are a lot of contracts available for you to download online if you don't want to write your own or can't afford to have them written for you.

If you’re setting up with more than one person –especially if they’re a friend or loved one writing some form of contract between the two of you is incredibly important. Not wanting to sound negative but you never know what stresses and strains may be put on you and what effect they may have.

When forming the contract, if you’re going to do it yourself, make sure you overview the financials very carefully, at the very least I would cover the following:

• Any investments including details about who invested what, how long the investment will be for, any conditions associated with the investment and clear details on the repayment(s) of the investment.
• Profit share, I would suggest including information about percentages if possible (even if you’re planning on a 50-50 split).
• Liabilities and ownership–this is something that will come with time but it would be a good idea to overview everyone’s roles within the company. I wouldn’t encourage a blame culture but associating responsibility is important.
• Decision making. At times you will be required to make important decisions on a company basis, this is easy if you’re a sole trader but if there’s more than one person, how will you decide what to do should there be a split? Will you bring in a mediator to make the final decision or will you toss a coin?

At the end of the day, as John was getting at, no matter what the current the relations are between the company’s partners it’s best to be as explicit as possible to avoid any disagreement later.

A great point and well put. When you set out, scream and shout about the fact; let everyone know what you’re doing –and don’t forget to tell all your friends and family too. If you’re lucky, they’ll know someone who needs your service and will recommend you (or mention the fact allowing you to follow it up). The best business* we’ve had in the past has always come from recommendation.

*“Best” isn’t always quantified by the cheque at the end of the job

Business start-up advice

Wednesday 6th December 2006 was an interesting day for me, I often get asked about how I run The Site Doctor and how I set the company up in the first place, but on Wednesday I had no less than 3 people mention that they had thought about setting up their own business but weren’t sure how to go about it or whether they should so I thought there must be more.

Leon Jollans was the first and posted a question on the MsWebDev list (message in the archive here) asking for some advice and seeing as a plethora of fantastically useful information was offered I thought I’d wrap it up for future reference.

Before we get down and dirty with the advice, the first thing I’ll say to you is:
If you’re thinking about it, do it –there’s never a better time than now.

Cheesy as it sounds, it’s true, the number of people I’ve spoken to in the past saying that they’ve thought about it but the time’s not right is unbelievable, if you start off with that attitude, the time will never be right, there will always be a reason not to do it. The thing you realise once you do take the leap is; it couldn’t have been a better time!

In regards to how many businesses fail, I believe the official figures in the UK at the moment are 1 in 5 businesses make it through the first year. This would explain why the government is giving so many breaks to SMEs, so just remember -you're the 1 in 5!

Ok so to the tips, I’ve tried to get these into some form of logical order but some comments span multiple topics so I apologise about that.

Update 16th Feb 2007: The article is now available as a downloadable PDF

1. Business start-up advice
   • In Closing
   • Thanks To
   • Useful References / Links
2. Before you get going
   • Identity
3. Contracts and Terms and Conditions
4. Business Plan
   • Targets and Goals
   • Setting your rates
5. Working from home
   • Your working environment
   • Have a routine
   • Won't clients mind?
   • Telephony
6. Day-day running
   • Processes and procedures
     • What sort of processes am I referring to?
   • Team structure
   • Getting Employees
   • Business Management
   • Action pack or Empower
7. New Business
   • Networking
   • Meetings
     • Before the meeting
     • The day before
     • What should you wear?
     • On the day
     • After the meeting
   • Client and Supplier Relations
   • Christmas Cards/Gifts
8. Finances (VAT, Accountants etc)
   • Billing
     • What should your invoice look like?
   • Accounting
   • VAT
     • Should you go VAT registered or not?
     • Once VAT registered
   • Banking

In Closing

Thank you for taking the time to read the articles, I hope it wasn’t too overwhelming for you and more importantly I hope it’ll be a useful reference for you in one way or another. There was a lot more I want to add but it was starting to be never ending story so I had to put closure on it, over time however I expect I’ll add more so check back soon!

Here’s to your success!

Tim

Thanks To

As I said at the start of this article, it is largely based on information posted on the MsWebDev list so thanks must be given to all those that contributed:

• Sean Ronan
• John Mandia (http://weblogs.asp.net/jmandia)
• Jos Vernon
• Andy Henderson
• Alex Homer (Stonebroom Ltd)
• Mike A
• Ian Blackburn (http://www.bbits.co.uk/)
• Duncan C. Ion
• James Murphy
• Mickey Puri (http://www.ivtelecom.co.uk/)
• Sunny
• Michael Wall

Useful References / Links

The following links may also be interest to you:

• http://www.startinbusiness.co.uk/ -This should be one of your first ports of call, there is a huge amount of information available on pretty much every topic you'll ever need.
• http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/
• http://workalone.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/wauk_workalone.co.uk -The WAUK mailing list
• http://www.mswebdev.org.uk/ -The MsWebDev List on which this article was based on, full of interesting people chatting about development on the Microsoft platform
• http://www.under-score.org.uk/ -underscore_ is a collective of individuals working in New Media in and around Bristol.
• http://lists.evolt.org/ -Discussion list for designers, developers, and web managers working to make the web a better place for all!
• http://www.multipack.co.uk/ -The Multipack is a community of multi-talented individuals from across the Midlands UK, that come together to discuss all the things web and share their knowledge, skills and talents.
• http://www.soflow.com/ -Soflow an online business network.
• http://www.linkedin.com/ -LinkedIn is another networking tool that helps you discover inside connections to recommended job candidates, industry experts and business partners.
• http://www.whichwebdesigncompany.co.uk/ -Which Web Design Company is an independant website allowing clients who have used a web design company's service to rate and review them.
• http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ -HM Revenue & Customs
• http://www.chamberonline.co.uk/ -The British Chamber of Commerce's main website.

Before you get going

I think this is a nice point to start off with; it’s unlikely that you’ll be setting up a company doing something that you hate but it’s worth thinking about exactly what you wish to do. When I first setup The Site Doctor and people asked me what The Site Doctor did, I said “Web Design and IT Consultancy” as I felt it was broad enough cover everything I was interested in doing, as it turns out I would think the majority of our work should now be classed as “Web Application Development” but you try explaining what that is to your IT illiterate friends ;)

I would be interested to know how many companies start out aiming to offer one service and then diversify into other more specialised areas –I would think it frequently happens after identifying a niche market.

Identifying a source of quick (and if possible easy) revenue is a great idea, it doesn’t have to be something that you’ll continue in the longer term but this will ensure that the first few months while you’re establishing the company aren’t as hard as they perhaps could be. When I was setting up The Site Doctor I was prepared to take a part-time job to subsidise the business should it not generate enough income, luckily I didn’t need to but having a backup plan is always a good idea!

The other advantage of doing i.e. contracting or freelancing is that you’ll be able to get straight into the market place, letting people know about your services and identifying potential markets. The sooner you can get your face known, the more likely you are to generate new business.

I would recommend talking to an accountant to understand the pros and cons about each type of company. Setting up as a sole-trader or partnership is easier in the short-term but switching from a sole-trader to a limited company later may bring added complications and/or paperwork that could be avoided.

If you’re starting out on your own, it’s probably worth looking into the option of setting up a networked business. I’m not sure if this is the correct term for it but it’s what I’ve been using for some time now to describe how The Site Doctor operates. The theory is simple, rather than having a load of in-house staff which will increase your overheads, make tactical relations with other companies offering complimentary services. As mentioned later in the series (see New Business –Networking) we have setup ties with design companies, mobile development companies and a variety of other complimentary services.

The beauty of this form of co-operative business is it allows you to be a single point of call for more services than your core business which is more likely to keep you in the forefront of the clients mind. It also has the massive benefit of having back-up staff without the cost. If you’re planning on running a development company, why not find a couple of other local developers or development companies who can take on some of your workload? Initially you may not be making any additional income on top of their charges, but should the workload continue, you’ll be able to consider taking on an employee safe in the mind they’ll pay for themselves.

Steve (my father-in-law) went on a local business course many years ago before starting his Birmingham couriering business and is forever spouting pearls of wisdom that came out of it. From what he’s told me, the course has helped on many levels when running his courier business from decision making to re-assurance.

One point that Steve did pick up on from the course that I feel is relevant is the idea of listening. His course leader suggested that if you ever had the opportunity to take a successful business man/woman such as Richard Branson out for dinner, take them to a nice restaurant and pay for the dinner, not to impress him but to have a couple of hours of their time –something that you perhaps wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise. I think this applies to all business owners (I’m open to offers!) as you’ll have a great opportunity to learn from someone who’s been there and done what you want to do…

As far as I know, he’s never got any sniff of business out of the course but I would suggest using the event as a networking opportunity as the attendees are most likely new to business and in need of some contacts.

The business course should also expand on some of the points raised here. I’m not sure where the best place to look for one is, there are plenty available through Business Link but I would think finding one run by local business owners may be of more use.

As with announcing your launch, get involved in communities, it does cost you in time but people respond well to you giving something back and it often results in more opportunities arising which more than cover the costs of participating. You also get a nice warm feeling from knowing you’ve helped someone else!

There is currently a huge amount of information available on starting your own business and running your own business from the government as there’s a drive to encourage start-ups in the UK, pop down to your local business link and you may even find there are grants available to you.

Identity

A name is an important factor of your business, make sure it’s scaleable and something that you’re proud of. I came up with “The Site Doctor” as the business name primarily because (among other reasons) I felt the majority of our business would come through fixing websites.

You should be proud of your name for obvious reasons, but remember that you’ll be needing to say it to people on a regular occasion. You’ll no-doubt also be frequently asked how you came up with your company’s name or as to its meaning as small talk at networking events and the like, so have a response prepared before the event (even if it was just something that you thought sounded cool!).

The reason I say you should ensure your name is scaleable is because I feel “The Site Doctor” portrays an image of a one-man-band which is something that I now can’t get around without changing the name. I did think about re-branding the company as “TSD” but on discussing this with existing clients and friends we felt that it was somewhat impersonal, I’m inclined to agree and would steer clear of acronyms for your name.

Remember that branding and company image is a profession itself and having a few quid to outlay on it won’t hurt. You can see the past incarnations of The Site Doctor [New TSD Design] which we’re currently trying to face lift but I would recommend having it designed professionally, not just to impress potential clients but also to give you confidence.

Sean’s idea of having templates for your proposals is a great idea and one well worth passing by your designer. By all means have an idea of what you feel your company’s brand should look like/convey but remember to leave a little room for the designer to make suggestions.