While you’re sorting out location, you’ll also need equipment and office supplies – computers, software, etc., right down to post-it-notes.

Make a list of what you believe you’ll need, marking off those in the splurge category. You can (hopefully) splurge later. In addition to a computer and software (which you already have, right?), below are more items to consider. Note: a given, it will depend on your specialty - Web, graphic design, illustration or a mix. Choose your elixir.

The new business wish list

• Office furniture (desks, computer chairs, filing cabinets, etc.)
• General office supplies (pens, pencils, paper clips, etc.)
• Presentation materials (boards, spray mount, etc.)
• Printer paper and ink/toner (have extras)
• Decent collection of fonts and photo CD’s
• Spare parts (keyboards, mouse, cables)
• Phone with separate business account
• Or office mobile / cell phone
• Internet connection
• Printer, scanner, digital camera
• Various sketch pads
• Reference books
• Trade publication subscriptions
• Pantone and/or other ink books
• A method to back up your files
• CDs/DVDs & labels
• Portfolio case
• Briefcase

If your office is located away from home, you’ll possibly need day-to-day items like a coffee maker and/or tea kettle, microwave, paper towels, etc.

All through this series we’ve followed main posts with BoDo Experiences. This will be no different. Coming up next we’ll be Neil, Leslie and Cat. All sharing their equipment experiences.

Until then,
The BoDo Team
cat - nt - jay

There’s nothing like hindsight when it comes to costly decision making. Better than nothing, is getting advice from those in the know. Choosing where to locate your business can be an expensive or minor financial glitch. Take your pick.

In the mother post of Location, Location, Location we had a list of pros and cons. Now we’ll see how these designers have located themselves.

Abhijit’s happy at home

Working at home is great, you can save a lot of time and effort by skipping travel. You can really boost your productivity by building your own environment. However, it also comes with its cons, the biggest being that, the line between work and home can get blur easily and at a point disappear. Not being able to meet people physically also takes its toll. That is why to stay motivated and focused I maintain discipline and a process. Having said that, working at home also teaches you a lot of things since you end up doing more than just your work. I am quite ‘at home’ when working at home!

Abhijit Nadgouda | Freelance Software Professional
iface Consulting

Leslie’s dedicated

I do not recommend working from home for most creatives. Creatives (generally speaking) have a hard enough time separating themselves from their work. When you add working from home into the mix, you usually end up with the creative working too many hours and being unproductive with her/his time. However, often it is the only option financially for many. If you must work from home, you need to have a space that is exclusively dedicated to your office. The kids don’t get to use the computer there (get a separate one for the home use), for example. Then you need to select your standard working hours and go to work during those hours (and only during those hours, except for the rare crunch-mode). Work is work, not-work is not working.

Sharing can be great option. It lowers the cost for the creatives sharing the space and it can mean sharing clients. For example, if you do web design, share with a print designer.

Me, I have a dedicated home office–a separate room, with a door. When I go to work, I go to work. I get up, get dressed (don’t work in your PJs!), and go to work. But, it is easier (mentally) for me to do that than it is for many creatives.

Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua | Creative/Marketing Consultant & Coach
Burns Auto Parts–Consultants | Burns Auto Parts blog | Podcast | Book

Neil’s located

Once the business was underway, we set up an office area in the basement of our townhouse. It was totally separate from the rest of the house. As a matter of practice, we met with clients on their turf, not ours. Occasionally, a client would swing by and we’d meet in our living room. Clients never saw the office area.

After we took on our first employees – two project managers/sales people – it was time to spread our wings and move out of the townhouse. As luck would have it, one of our clients was a retail real estate company. We did a barter deal for office space. It was a raw space, so we were able to custom design the interior. That lasted two years and we needed more space. We moved to another office building, closer to home and stayed there for a few years. After a downturn in the economy, lots of stress and blood pressure that was through the roof, we decided to bring the business back into the house. It was a good move and I’ve worked from home every since. You can’t beat the two-second commute.

Neil (nt) Tortorella | Marketing Manager
Tortorella Design | The Marketing Mind | Creative Latitude | BoDo Team | Marketing Minute

Jay’s domainly SOHO

Having sampled working in hired space, shared and our own offices, I prefer to work from home. It saves travel time and I can work totally flexible hours. Once I’ve started something, I hate being interrupted, so I have the luxury of turning off outside contact if I choose. My SOHO is my domain.

Usually my clients contact me by phone, email or ICQ and I like to visit new clients in their offices: It gives me an idea of how they operate, they have all their present materials on hand and I can put faces to names when calling.

Since they have lots of work for me on a regular basis, I also have my own desk in one client’s office. They like me there and I am happy to oblige, provided I come and go to my own schedule and my portable office (laptop, mobile phone, etc) comes with me. That way, I am still available to my other clients and can work on my own projects, if I have a spare moment.

Jeanette (jay) Wickham | Systems Manager
FastCoconut.com | NO!SPEC | BoDo Team | Ask jay

Cat’s online

I started out working at a home office and was fairly happy with the situation. Well, except for the times when a client would call, coinciding with my son flushing a loud toilet (and being a kid, he’d leave the door open). Or when a client would be shown in unannounced and I’d still be in pj’s.

My financial manager was building an office in Bandar (‘town’ in Malay) and made a serious offer to share space and staff. The office was beautifully done, centrally located, but as it turns out it, not my cuppa.

This, coupled with a second attempt at working out of an office convinced me I’m better suited at working on my own. In the silence, or not, of my own choosing.

As I moved out of print and into web and running Creative Latitude, I rarely met up with clients. Even if they were in the same country. From personal experience, at times too much time is wasted on meetings, most unnecessarily long. Forget getting the spiel together. First you have the personal preparation, then the drive over, the waiting, the meeting, the small talk in the meeting, the constant interruptions, the small talk after the meeting, and the drive back. Again, not my cuppa.

By xing out on-site meetings, I’ve saved not only myself hours of time, but for my clients as well. Skype and Airport R Us.

Catherine (cat) Morley | Project Manager
Creative Latitude | NO!SPEC | Katz-i | FastCoconut.com | BoDo team

Our next post in the Starting Out and Setting Up Series will cover equipment needed to fill in your office. Whether you’ve chosen to work at home, or out.

Until then,
The BoDo Team
cat - nt - jay

So far in the Starting Out and Setting Up Series we’ve had discussions on money, experience, clients, personalities, and being ready. Next up is the equally important issue of location. Where will you work? Out of your home office? Or at an official, dedicated office?

The pros and cons of off-site office space and working at home

Should you work from home or rent/buy an office? This question inevitably crosses the mind of most designers going off on their own. And it’s a tricky one. Some assume that working from home will make them appear less than professional. Others love the idea of working in their jammies until late in the afternoon.

Where you work is certainly a personal choice (at times led by finances). We’ve put together a number of pros and cons for you to mull over.

Working at home – the pros

• Rent, utilities, furnishings, etc., are at a minimum
• As are work attire, daily travel and lunchtime expenses
• For those with small children, childcare costs are reduced
• Home office deduction potential
• Totally flexible working hours
• The 2-second commute
• Easy to set up

Working at home – the cons

• Travelling to clients eats up your billable day
• Distractions – personal phone calls, tv, kids, etc.
• As you’re always available, it’s assumed you are not really “working”
• “Less than professional” is on some minds (read: “clients”)
• Loss of privacy if you work with a team
• The work is always there, with you

Outside office – the pros

• A (potentially) more professional image
• Less personal-related distractions
• You can leave work at work
• A more customized space

Outside office – the cons

• Lease commitment
• A continuing expense
• Possible redecorating expenses at start up
• For those with small children, childcare expenses increase
• Potential accessibly problems (some offices don’t have 24-hour access)
• Travel time to and from the office

Writer, visiting author ME “Liz” Straus says:

I don’t know anyone who started their business with an office outside their home. It’s a nice ideal, but everyone I know has opted to use that possible cost — in rent, commute, and energy — to invest in equipment and time toward getting their business off the ground.

Here in my home office, I have the ideal commute from my bedroom, to the kitchen, to my computer. I never worry about things being in one location when I’m in another, because there is no “other location” to worry about. The tax benefits of an office in my home also help out — we have specific space in our living room clearly defined by a rice-paper screen marking off my office. That also means I get the view of the harbor out our window at sunrise. I could never afford an office with that.

Of course, the downside of starting our on your own is the temptation to be all about work. It’s a natural thing, because we don’t know when, or if, the next job will come. Working at home only makes that “work all of the time” temptation worse, because everything is always within reach. We hear it, silently nagging, saying “you could be working on me.”

Educating friends and family, who truly don’t understand our working style and our working needs can also be a problem. After getting it wrong the first time I worked at home, my husband, young son, and I agreed on some guidelines about how my home office crossed into their lives. For example, my son who was a child then, wasn’t allowed to answer the business telephone.

If you make the choice to work from the place where you live, think through your work needs and the needs of the people you live with. Talk with them about your office hours and be sure to have hours when the office is locked up and closed. The people who love will appreciate that and support you in venture if you take some time to let them know that you haven’t left them completely.

And remember, it’s supposed to be fun.

Bottom line, think things through (yes, it’s lecture time). For those coming new into a business, to get an outside office for the sake of having an outside office can be a great cash sucker. It’s best to be doubly sure before you sign.

Coming next, in the experience half of Location, Location, Location, we’ll hear from Abhijit, Leslie, Neil and Cat.

Until then,
The BoDo Team
cat - nt - jay

Our earlier post lectured on the subject of money. Boring, right? Apologies for that. Handling money is just one of many non design skills needed as business owners.

Continuing along the same subject, Chris, Stefan, Leslie and Neil reach back into their pasts. Back to when they were start-ups. Back where they planned, budgeted, scraped by and made it through to today.

Chris’s money management

How we managed our money:
We first looked at my spouse’s finances and determined whether or not we could even survive on her income alone. After much consideration and crunching of the numbers, we realized we could make it, but life was going to change. Previously, we worked Gonink part-time and essentially had 3 incomes in the house. It wasn’t anything to say “Want to buy this?” and the answer was a resounding “Sure!” As soon as I quit my full-time job, it (purchases) became more of what’s necessary and what is not.

Our plan and budget:
Personal finances were first and foremost and the first thing we did was payoff anything we could. Things such as paying off my truck, personal credit cards, small home loans, etc. By doing so, we gave ourselves more “wiggle room” when it came to buying things for the business before we officially opened our doors. Because let’s face it, when you’re first starting out, your personal finances are going to help supplement your business and you don’t need any extra payments lying around while you’re trying to get the business going.

We looked at several different loan options for our business and we found that a personal loan would work better for us than a business loan. We then would budget x-amount of dollars for equipment purchases, software and stationary stuff like folders, pens, pencils, etc. Once the business opened and some money started coming in, we did our best to focus at least 25% on marketing. This was for advertisements in newspapers, flyers and even extra signage outside of our business. But there is an interesting money factor in any business that I never even considered when I was laying out our business plan and budget. When you look at any business, think of all the ‘invisible’ things you need to buy just to sustain a “life” at work. Things like toilet paper, cleaning supplies, kitchen utensils and other things become after thoughts and even though it seems menial, they are part of running a business.

Chris Tomlinson | Communication Designer
Gonik Design & Print | Gonik Blog

Stefan’s Money

My situation was very fortunate. I was able to take over a company that already had a steady stream of income and a healthy client base. However, I didn’t jump in without some back up plan. So, using my family’s long business relationship with the bank, I was able to secure a pretty substantial small business line of credit. Even my banker was still surprised that at my age I have been able to have some pretty great opportunities fall into my lap. Like I said, I like to exploit opportunities any time I can.

Stefan Bean | President/Creative Director
Pulse Creative Partners, Inc. | BoDo Author | Bean’s Biz

Leslie’s money

Absolutely, I budgeted. And I had several months’ worth of expenses (living and work) saved up. It is much better to be prepared and in my case it was essential as I was single and had no fallback position (except to get a job). That being said, there are lots of resources for start-up funds in the USA. SCORE.org has seminars (very cheap) on financing a business and you’ll meet the very people who can help you at these events.

As for managing living & working expenses, I started from day one with separate accounts, credit cards, and data files. I use Quicken for my home accounts and QuickBooks for my business ones. It is vital to keep your accounts separate. For example, in the USA you can deduct credit card interest as a business expense, but ONLY if it is a credit card you use exclusively for business.

I recommend that, unless you have a strong background and ability in bookkeeping, you get an accountant when you launch your business. It’s a very real (and deductible) business expense…and one which will save you lots more than you’ll spend.

Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua | Creative/Marketing Consultant & Coach
Burns Auto Parts–Consultants | Burns Auto Parts blog | Podcast | Book

Neil has no money, honey

I did put together a formal business plan and budget, but didn’t really have adequate capital. I ended up funding the start-up with what I made from freelancing. A wing, a prayer and 50 bucks. After a bit, we were generating enough revenue to put some money aside for “start-up” capital … sort of after the start-up.

I was fortunate to have a wife who was a crackerjack sales person. When we were [formally] putting the business together, she handled the sales and client contact during the day while I worked my day job. My salary was enough to cover our living expenses. We did cut out some things like vacations, dining out and such until we had put some money aside to keep us afloat after we went full-time.

Neil (nt) Tortorella | Marketing Manager
Tortorella Design | The Marketing Mind | Creative Latitude | BoDo Team | Marketing Minute

Later in the life of BoDo (no, not now, not in this series), we’ll bring in an expert to write about small business book keeping. Someone who will share their expertise. And make it fun. Well, maybe not the fun part.

Next in the BoDo Niblets: Starting Out and Setting Up Series we’ll discuss the pros and cons of working out or in.

Until then,
The BoDo Team
cat - nt - jay

What a way to start off the week, right? With the depressing subject of money. Or rather, the possible lack of it.

Do you have enough money set aside?

Here’s a bad idea - quit your in-house design job, hang out your shingle, hold your breath and hope for the best.

A number of designers do this every year. Unfortunately, due to bad financial planning, some are forced back in-house, or need to take non design jobs in the interim.

When you go into business, it’s important to have a positive attitude. But it needs to be a realistic one. If you believe clients will be banging down your door without much effort on your part, you’re in for a rude awakening. Odds are, instead of working solid on client projects, you’ll be spending a lot of time on marketing, promotion and sales. Unless you have marketing and sales staff, taking time away from the creative part is a gotta at any stage of business. But it’s doubly important at the start. It’s not unusual to spend 50% or more of your time reeling in a big fish. Sometimes any fish.

So, how are you going to keep a roof over your head in the meantime? That’s where start up capital comes into play. Float and flow money. It’s money put aside to float you until the cash starts flowing.

How much is enough? For most shops, you’ll need a minimum of three months to keep you going. Six months is better, a year’s worth is great, two is ideal.

Consider your expenses. You’ll have the basics – your personal overheads such as rent or a mortgage, utilities, food, car payments, gas, etc. If you have an outside office, you’ll also have rent, additional utilities, extra computer items, ISP fees, office supplies, etc., right down to coffee and toilet paper. Yes, it gets expensive quick.

Okay, so you know you’ll need money. Where’s it coming from?

Here’s a few options

• Get a loan from your bank
• Personal savings (your best bet)
• Obtain a line of credit (apply before you quit your job)
• Get a loan from relatives (make sure you have a written agreement)
• Take on a partner or investor (again, have it in writing)
• Freelance while working your day job

There are other sources, but these are the most common.

A surefire way to go out of business is by not having enough start up capital, and/or buying everything in sight. So once you do have capital, learn to be frugal. Buy only what’s necessary, when it’s necessary. Draft a budget and live by it. Yeah, it’s tough.

Coming up next is how a few of us designers dealt with the tedious subject of money.

Until then,
The BoDo Team
cat - nt - jay

You thought PITA was bad? Try PICA!

“The client is always right, even when they have no defined vision.”

This is a fun constant in the design world, and when it works in favor of the designer, they profit by the bucketload, either in billable hours or, in the case of in-housers, the six-day design vacation at your desk as the boss frets whether the font color should be white or green.

But that fun comes to an end quickly when you hear the phrase, “I don’t know what I like, but I’ll know it when I see it.” Perhaps you’ve never actually heard those words, but I have….I heard them with the boss standing behind me, hands folded, waiting for me to crack open the file and start designing. Their beady little eyes, staring at the back of your head, searching for flakes from dry scalp…the horror…THE HORROR!

Sorry…flashback.

Where was I? Oh, oh yeah, as I write for BoDo, I think to myself “Well, this must be great, a design business online! No back-of-head staring, no hemming and hawing meetings, how paradisiacal (it’s a word, trust me) can THAT be?

And then it occurs to me that online collaboration has the potential to be ten times worse.

“But Tom,” you ask, marveling at my genius and innate sex appeal while simultaneously wondering if I’ll ask you to hang out with me “Why would that be worse?”

And the answer is…PICA.

Ah yes, PICA, the worst of all online design diseases. PICA is subtle and insidious, like belly-button lint and fingerprints on your glasses. Suddenly it’s all over you and it won’t stop.

A relative of PiTA, PICA attacks unexpectedly and viciously, grinding you to a halt. PICA: Passive-aggressive Internet Conflict Avoidance. Like a plague it seeps through your emails, with such phrases as “Please make ten variations and email them.” And “We’re going into a meeting and we’re going to discuss this very issue,” and my personal favorite. “It’s still on somebody else’s desk.”

Here’s how it starts: They ask, you design, they look, they like it but they don’t like it and they either don’t know how to criticize or they designed this really cool logo with a swish in it and they’ve been sending you telepathic messages and you won’t listen to them. So you email them with a “Just touching base with you,” and they freeze up. They believe that if they say “we hate your ideas,” then there’s a possibility of the designer getting huffy and quitting, thus restarting the process. They ALSO know that given the advent of technology, the ability to stall people on decision-making has virtually quintupled. And as a result, all they have to do is stall you. You can’t prove that they’re stalling. You’re not likely to show up in person, and the worst that can happen is that you call and get the message machine.

Online services are indeed the wave of the future, but riding atop that wave is a whole herd of PICAs hungry to sludge your creative pipes. BE VIGILANT! Be wary, B-postive.

’nuff said.

Thomas (Tom) Stephan | Director of Something Clever
BoDo Author | Dyer Straits

Five quick tips for getting new clients

Dear jay,

I’m presently working full time at a design shop. Problem is, I’m bored to tears. I do have a few freelance clients that I work with the weekends and after work, but to feel comfortable, I’d like more.

Could you please give me some advice on getting just a few more clients?

A simple question without a simple answer but here are five quick tips for getting new clients.

1. Check out our Resources

Go to our BoDo Resources page and check out the articles and sites listed under
D - G: Getting Work.

2. Network: Use your clients/friends/family/neighbours

As I mentioned in my The Starting Out and Setting Up Series: Clients, Oh My! post, I have been extremely lucky with clients. These days the referral system is firmly in place and clients find me. Setting up your network can be difficult but over at Creative Latitude, Ronnie Lebow has a great article, A Simple Way to Get Clients that will get you started.

3. Marketing: Marketing, marketing

Did we mention marketing? Our Marketing resources contain lots of websites and articles to get you started.

4. Search: Try the job boards

Again, on our BoDo Resources page you will find a list of job boards.

Warning: Do not be sucked in by the ‘Logo for $50’, ‘I’ll give you more work’, ‘I need want mock-ups/concepts’ type ads found on some job sites.

For a lesson in self protection, pop over to NO!SPEC and familiarise yourself with the concepts.

5. Give probono a go

Probono can be rewarding as well as a great source of referrals, but step very carefully if you are a beginner. Creative Business’ article Pro Bono work: When does it make sense? highlights some of the pitfalls.

Parting tip: Look for new job

If you are extremely unhappy in your present job, you should consider looking for new job. Although this is another topic altogether, I’ll pass on this personal job referral exchange which just came to our attention: whototalkto.com

The site has a simple premise, “All you have to do is contribute a referral you know of, and then you get to search the referrals posted by everybody else”.

Your referral has to be to an inside scoop for a possible job, but can be for any type of position: Someone who is looking for a plumbing apprentice, to a neighbour who runs a sports store and is always looking for sales people, or if you are game, to your boss for your present job!

Good luck!

Until the next
Ask jay

You too can Ask jay!

In the previous post, Clients, Oh My! we talked about how many clients are needed before starting a business without undue pressure. Need a quick rundown on the post?

Some have made it with none, some with one. But if you want to hedge your bets, try and aim for the 50 / 50 guidelines.

Below we have Leslie, Stefan, Neil and Cat explaining how, as new start-ups, their client bases were structured.

Leslie’s covered

I had originally thought that I would open a “creative business helper” kind of business, as I had seen so many individual creatives struggle with the business part of their business. However, I was recruited by a friend at an agency and, because they were so interested in me and my skill set and it was a safer thing to do, I went to work for them instead. I did a great job, but didn’t enjoy it at all. I had the “calling” to go on my own. I had photographers nagging me to rep so, as I didn’t know of any “creative business helper” kinds of businesses but I did know rep firms and how they worked, I launched my business as a rep. At the same time, I was already active on photographers’ forums and in creative pro groups, so I had all these contacts and information in that arena. People were constantly asking for my advice, which was helping them achieve their creative business goals. I was, essentially, making my money repping but doing what I wanted and loved on the side. One day I woke up and told myself that it was silly to do what others thought I should do (rep) when what I loved doing was helping lots of different creatives be successful. I made the switch.

Being active in all those forums and groups made getting clients relatively easy. I had already built a strong reputation and I didn’t stop participating just because I wanted to make money advising creatives. There is a difference in what I do on the forums and in my writing (general advice) and the consulting for an individual business (specific advice). I continue marketing to reach new potential clients, however, as all businesses should.

Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua | Creative/Marketing Consultant & Coach
Burns Auto Parts–Consultants | Burns Auto Parts blog | Podcast | Book

Neil’s covered too

While I was working for others, I always had some freelance clients. Most came by way of friends and family, others came by referral from my freelance clients. Yet others came by way of business clubs I belonged to.

While I was setting up my business, over the course of about a year or so, I worked a day job, meeting with clients during my lunch hour or before or after business hours. I did the work in the evenings and on the weekends. Fortunately, my employer didn’t have a problem with my freelancing and allowed me to make calls to clients, printers, etc. during business hours. I also used my employer for some printing jobs, so it worked for everyone involved.

Neil (nt) Tortorella | Marketing Manager
Tortorella Design | The Marketing Mind | Creative Latitude | BoDo Team | Marketing Minute

Stefan had it made

Well, I came right out of school and began working at my father’s design firm (the business I now own) and I certainly had a lot of things to learn about dealing with clients. First of all, I had to get past my ego and begin to really listen and understand what a client wanted. But I also had to learn when it was a good time to push a client out of their comfort zone a little. I think there will always be something new we glean from working with each client.

Stefan Bean | President/Creative Director
Pulse Creative Partners, Inc. | BoDo Author | Bean’s Biz

Jay’s been lucky

I’ve been lucky, as I have never wanted for clients, as new ones have always appeared as the work tapered off.

What I do find frustrating is having an intermediary between me and the client! Like ‘Chinese Whispers’, messages can be misinterpreted and just plan wrong! Dealing directly with the client is the only sensible way to go – you can react immediately to queries or concerns at all stages of the process.

However, you have to learn the process carefully dealing with clients and learning where and when to incorporate their ideas and suggestions without compromising your own good design ideals.

Jeanette (jay) Wickham | Systems Manager
FastCoconut.com | NO!SPEC | BoDo Team | Ask jay

Cat’s roaming about

I was lucky in that the client came looking for me. I went from being unemployed, to being over-employed. My first client brought in other clients. Word got out, bringing in more. But as I move quite often, I’ve had the pleasure (not) of working hard to gain clients in each new country.

It was only when I relocated to Scotland that I took business classes. Classes that should have been taken beforehand – small business bookkeeping, networking, public speaking and marketing. Luckily, the Business Gateway had a brilliant program going for new start-ups, free of charge for the first year.

Relocating forced me to take time out for business training (which included how to find new clients), but it really should have been in place from the start. Before the client juggling came to be.

I’m sure you already know what advice I’m going to give - “do what I say do, don’t do what I did.”

Catherine (cat) Morley | Project Manager
Creative Latitude | NO!SPEC | Katz-i | FastCoconut.com | BoDo team

Next will be our very first Ask jay. Then we’re going to take a couple days break from the BoDo Niblets series, but we’ll be back on Monday with Where’s the Money, Honey? It’s where we get into the realities of how much is enough.

Tomorrow will see the first Resourceful Friday, followed by the Weekly Recap on Saturday, then the Sunday Stressbusters, on, you guessed it, Sunday.

See you there,
The BoDo Team
cat - nt - jay