My First Client!

Yesterday I had my first client! I made money doing something I love and believe in! What a rush!

I cannot recall if I ever posted what my business actually IS. I think I wanted to get a website up and then do a big reveal. But things are not proceeding according to that plan, which is ok.

What I offer is on-site scanning and digitization consulting and services. "Have scanner, will travel." If you are in the Chicago area and want someone to come to your home, your church, your museum or archive or library, and digitize a collection, or offer you expert knowledge and guidance on setting up a digitization program, that is what I can do.

A colleague and friend of mine had agreed to a kind of barter/trade. I would use her as a test guinea pig and she would do something for me. I discovered something very important. When I have transported myself and my equipment to your house, and gotten all set up, and you are going through your family history and those old photos, 90 minutes (my basic appointment) is probably not going to be enough for you.

You are probably going to discover more and more important pictures. Once you crack open those old albums, you will see more and more pictures you forgot you even had. And you will want to share them. You will begin pulling them out and piling them up to get done. You may start going through your house and pulling down framed photos from off the walls, because if they are framed and on display, they are super important to you. Then your husband, your mother, your kids will come in, they will see the pictures out, they will start looking at them, start asking questions.

Suddenly you are telling stories and reminiscing and having a wonderful day. And I get to be a part of it, I get to hear your stories, you start showing me pictures and telling me what's important about them.

Unlike strangers in a lab someplace in India, I actually want to hear these stories. I actually want you to tell me your stories.

I had no idea, but that is what happened. And i was there longer and longer, and there seemed to be so much to do. Eight hours, I spent, and we did over 200 photos and pieces of memorabilia, all at archival and preservation quality (no 300 dpi jpgs for these memories).

I left and it was after midnight and I was wiped. It was such a good day.

My colleague said her mother, who was out for the week, would probably cry when she saw photos of her late husband and her childhood all on her computer for her to look at. No more handing over you only copy of a picture to some relative who wants it and leaving gaps in the family albums, Now she can just email photos and say, here, make your own print.

She also said I'd barely scratched the surface of this big task she'd been meaning to take on for years, and never got to it. Now at least it is started. The most important parts are digital.

I am super excited. I loved it. She loved it. It makes people so happy. And since I am right there, the gratification is instant. No waiting 4-8 weeks for a huge box of your precious memories to be shipped ot some lab with strangers processing them. Nope, I come out that week, I show you what I am doing, I make suggestions, and then I do it for you.

Then you get to sit at my computer and do a visual check. You get to scroll through everything. And meanwhile I have cropped to your specifications. I have updated the color. I have zoomed it in so you can really see what's important.

What she said: It's like my relatives all came alive again!

I love it.

why ING bank is a bad, bad idea.

Normally I would not post on here about things that make me want to scream, but this relates to my FPU journey, and what things work and what things don't ING BANK DOES NOT WORK. Not for me.

This post may contain many bad words, so if that offends you, please do not proceed. I am too infuriated to pretend.

I want to preface this by saying, any time I have called ING Bank, the people there have been unfailingly nice to me. Pleasant. Helpful. Even charming. Even today when I was so angry and upset I thought my head was going to explode. Even today when I was asked if there was anything she could do to explain the situation to me, and why they do what they do and how they do it (because obviously I cannot figure it all out on my own), and to persuade me to not give up on ING, and my voice was raised and I finally responded by yelling into the phone that

I have never in my life had a bank make me feel so stupid and inept with my money as ING Bank.

I am still so upset. I am shaking. I want to scream some more and throw things at them.

This was not just one incident. It was a series of things that I just kept putting up with, and ING's stance is always the same: It's not US it's YOU.

For example: ING advertises that you can have up to 25 savings accounts with them, for free. True.

However: They tell you "by law" (what law? I don't know) you cannot make more than 6 transfers from any savings account in a month. But you can make unlimited from a checking account.

Actually means: Unless you want to be making a series of transfers, by hand, to each and every savings account, manually, and then also waiting for the money to clear, you need to open a checking account. You cannot just open one main savings account and disperse funds into numerous sub-accounts, which is what I had been led to believe.

Then there was me opening an account and making my first deposit, and how I had to wait almost three weeks for the funds to be available to me. Not to withdraw, but just to open up my multiple sinking accounts and move money around. I couldn't withdraw it, use it, spend it, transfer it, nothing. For weeks.

And this time period was extended because I was opening up my accounts right before payday and talking to their representative on the phone, and he said I had to still go online and "finalize" my account. Which seems like a small thing, but it the first example of all the steps and hoops and fuckwittery you have to deal with. If I want something done with MY bank, I call them, and it's done. If it's a bit more elaborate, I actually go to one of their branches and they talk to me in person. And whatever time they tell me it will take? It always takes less. With ING - it always takes MORE.

I didn't even want a checking account. I just wanted savings. But I was pretty much forced into that choice if I wanted to do what I wanted to do. Then they said they would send me an ATM/Debit card. Ok fine. And they told me, if I used the darn thing just 3 times, I would get $50 in cash. Which sounded like a great deal to me! And how hard could it be to use a debit card 3 times?

Well there was the waiting for funds to clear. Always, always. Then last Thursday I had this bright idea. I knew I had to make a very early morning purchase on Tuesday. So I went to ING and I authorized a withdrawal/transfer from my regular bank (I heart them so very much) to cover it, to my ING checking.

See this was THURSDAY. And I was making my purchase TUESDAY. To me, that is pretty much a whole week there. And ING takes 2 days to transfer funds.

Except Monday was a bank holiday.

And there is also a time difference.

Which meant I walked into a jam packed bakery in Chicago before dawn on Tuesday (Paczki Day, it's a whole big Chicago Polish thing) to pick up my order, I handed over my ING card and... it was declined. In front of everyone. With a line of impatient people all trying to get their stuff and get going.

That's when I made my mistake. Because I was not planning on paying cash, so I didn't have it. I was flustered and embarrassed. I rarely swipe anything any more. So I took out my regular ATM card, from MY bank, and paid, and got out of there.

See here's the other thing: when I opened a checking account at ING, they ran a credit check, because, as they said, their overdraft protection is a line of credit. They "don't charge fees." No, you get a line of credit, so they just charge you interest on your overdraft amount, as it is a loan.

So I had to - unexpectedly - apply for credit, which I did not know and might have said "No thanks" to, if I'd been prepared. But I wasn't, so I applied, and I was "approved."

Now I am sure some ING minion could explain to me, in great detail, how this was all my own fault, How somehow I misunderstood their terms. How I misunderstood why I had to apply for and be approved for a line of credit with their bank in order to have a debit card on my own bank account.

Here's what I, the customer understood: I had over $300 in their bank, tied up in various savings accounts. And my card was declined for lack of funds. (That $300 does NOT include the transfer I authorized on Thursday prior.)

I had pre-planned and transferred money into ING on Thursday for a purchase on Tuesday. And my card was declined for lack of funds.

I had to apply for a line of credit for "overdraft protection" to open the checking account. My checking account had, I don't know, $15? in it? $20? The purchase was about $45. So basically a difference of maybe $25. They made me apply for a line of credit, which they assured me would cover overdrafts, and yet my card was declined for lack of funds. Over maybe $25.

Of course, the mistake was mine. That I paid with my regular debit card. As I've mentioned before, I don't carry a huge cushion in there, and this was a few days before payday so it was tight.

I paid the bill with my regular ATM card. A few hours later, ING finally showed up and transferred the money out that I had authorized the week before. I never saw it happen because my bank saw that I had $1000 in my savings, and seamlessly transferred money out to cover the transaction. And charged me a fee of course.

Then the next day I went and paid for parking using my Parkmobile app, which is attached to my regular checking account. A mere $1.85, and it came out of my savings, With another fee. And when some other small small transactions came in (that were scheduled and I knew about them), well at that point I was in the hole, so more money came out of my savings.

If my bank had just covered all the small transactions as overdrafts, they would have charged me $32 per transaction in overdraft fees, which is perfectly legal and even normal in bank-world. Instead they rolled everything into one transaction of about $100, transferred it over from my savings, and charged me the transfer fee ONCE. They could have really gouged me and they didn't. I heart them.

And then when I bought parking the next day. I never got an alert from them I was overdrawn, because... I wasn't. They had transferred money over. So I was at $0. And then I made a $1.85 parking purchase via Parkmobile. A DOLLAR AND EIGHTY FIVE CENTS. And they transferred it over,. And charged me the transfer fee. Which is much less than the overdraft fee, and I really appreciate that.

Of course, this is all ultimately my responsibility. Not ING's.

• It's my responsibility to stalk my ING account daily to see if funds are in there, and more importantly, can they be used. Because with ING, they frequently could not.
• It was my responsibility to check their website before I tried making a purchase. See, I am used to my bank, where having $300 in that bank (in any form) means I can use those funds.
• I believed ING when they told me I was getting a line of "credit" to cover "overdrafts."
• I listened when they explained in great detail why transfers take 2 solid business days. It was my fault that I did not think about a Bank Holiday on Monday (a regular work day for me), and the time difference.
• It's my responsibility to check my own regular bank account to keep up, and generally I do so daily. This time I waited 48 hours between checks. That's on me.
• No one forced me to use my regular ATM card. And if I had thought about it (which I didn't because I don't usually get up before dawn, so I was woozy), I could have checked my regular bank on my mobile app, seen the situation, and manual;ly transferred money to cover me - no fee. I did not.

None of that matters. What matters is that I sweated and slaved and skipped going to the dentist for 4 months and sold stuff I loved and said no and ate peanut butter sandwiches to save that Emergency Fund. And when I looked, today, instead a glow of pride and contentment, I got a huge kick in the gut because someone was fucking around with my Emergency Fund. Ut was not immediately apparent what the hell had happened. All I saw was that money was gone. I kind of figured the $1.85 was parking, but why was it in my savings account with big fee attached to it? And why was money transferred out on Tuesday? I never transferred money on Tuesday. And I looked at my checking account and saw that ING had transferred money out, and I had not dealt with or authorized ING to do anything on TUESDAY.

The fact that they fucked with my Emergency Fund the very same day that my ING card was declined for lack of funds? I don't care how you want to spin it, I don't care what logic you want to use, I don't care how you want to point out it is, actually, all my own fault.

I AM GOING TO KICK. YOUR. ASS.

From a customer standpoint all I can see is that with ING, I feel stupid and inept with my money. I make stupid mistakes based on things like not knowing it's a bank holiday and not accounting for time zones. And yet, I know that I am not stupid OR inept with my money. I am not irresponsible with my money. I don't swipe mindlessly and wonder why I am getting so many fees.

I used to have situations like thins, earlier in my banking life. Before I found my local bank. After dealing with them for 5 years, I know I not stupid or inept. Maybe I was a little confused about money before, and occasionally that created some issues I had to deal with. But in general, I had very few problems.

And after FPU and all these months I know that I am on my money like white on rice. Pretty much every day. All the time.

that's how I know, I know where it counts that when it comes to ING... it's not me, it's them.

Yeah so I gritted my teeth and told that ING lady I wanted to close all my accounts and I wanted all my money back. Every cent. And the "auto withdrawal" I had set up for the day after payday (tomorrow)? Better not go through. I do not want ING Bank touching one red cent of my money, not now, not ever.

So this happened Thursday afternoon. Guess when I am getting my money deposited BACK into my account?

Maybe next Monday.

Probably Tuesday.

Possibly Wednesday. Of next week.

Oh, grrrrrrrrrr...!

moving along, moving along

Slow and steady -- I have been moving this idea along.

I got my tax refund. I researched equipment, especially a very expensive scanner. Have I mentioned that I need a scanner? Between Facebook, here, Livejournal and emails I can never remember who knows what about what. Anyway, I need a scanner, and a really really nice one. You can can at home with a cheap scanner for $55-70. But for a business, I need a very nice scanner. Found the best scanner I could afford. Amazon had it... out of stock. Everyone was out of stock. Finally I found it in stock at a Chicago store, and it was $150 under Amazon's price too. Drove over there after work when I was sleepwalking with tiredness. Bought my scanner and brought it home.

I also bought a domain name and web hosting, and I set it up with Drupal. Hard to pick between Drupal and Wordpress.

Anyway, that was all my money. For now.

Last weekend I cracked open my package, set up my scanner at home and started running some tests on it, figuring out how the software works, what i can and cannot do. So far I am pretty pleased with it. It can take a bit of a long time when on certain settings. If nothing else pans out, I am excited to have such a lovely piece of equipment.

I was also a bit worried that a very new scanner might not work with my older laptop and my operating system. I knew I was running Mac OS 10.something but not for sure whaich one. That's the thing about combining new equipment and software with older hardware. I've already had to toss one scnner out, that was perfectly good, because there was no software for it. So that's a relief.

I have been looking at Drupal themes and I need to get my website up and running so I can start marketing and advertising. The hold up here is that I am not familiar with Drupal at all so it will be a big learning curve. But at least I won't have to design anything.

I need to send out some info to my eager art student about designing my logo.

I am still working on copy for the website and advertising copy for my first flyer. From that I can write a good Craigslist ad.

I do need to buy some more equipment - less expensive but it still needs to wait for next month. I have been researching options on Amazon and I have some good choices.

I talked with my sister, who has run programs for a local public library, about how I should proceed in terms of setting up a program with local libraries. I got some really good advice and as soon as I get the website, business cards, and marketing materials together, I can start approaching local libraries.

I am also thinking about a Groupon or similar deal - that would reach a lot of people!

I would possibly be further along, but I have a full time job all week, and it is tiring. Last night I went to bed at 7:45 pm. I was literally staggering with tiredness. Glad I got my clothes off.

It's funny. For the last year I have really been enjoying that my free time is totally free (mostly). Weekends I sleep late, go out to lunch, go grocery shopping, do laundry, run errands, read books, go to the gym. I have also traveled some and gone letterboxing here and there. It's been restful but now it's a bit boring. Especially this time of year. But now I always have a big to-do list. All of it is in preparation. Now I am constantly learning and proceeding, asking questions, researching, trying to figure stuff out. Even in my downtime, my mind is working on website copy, colors, designs, ideas.

It's hard, but kind of fun.

FPU : baby step 1 completed!!!

This has been five long months in coming.

Today my tax refund was deposited. Yes it was rather large (for me) -- about twice what I usually get. Yes I have to adjust my withholding, but this is my first year at this job.

And every dollar has a name. I have a plan for this money!!!

First step -- transfer money to savings. DONE.

Baby Step 1 is $1000 cash in emergency savings. DONE. I got close, but then my Nov emergency wiped me out, then I had 2 months of dentist fees. it was expensive, but I needed to be able to eat. I had saved about half. Slow but steady. Now I am DONE.

Thanks to the savings I already had, I also have money left over. My plan for this money is:

1) Buy equipment and domain name and maerketing materials for my business idea.

2) Pay off my first, smallest debt to start my debt snowball.

I could really get the snowball going if I didn't spend the money on other things. But the point of the business is to generate more income. I want to use this money to prime the pump, otherwise it will all be gone and I will still be struggling to pay off debt and save on my small salary.

I am excited!!!! Despite my long blog posts, I am not a person who just talks and talks. If I'm talking about it, I am doing it. I am putting together a plan, fleshing out my ideas, and getting myself ready.

Lucky for me I have numerous friends and relatives and contacts in the creative services areas and the small business areas and the branding and marketing areas. I have been getting a lot of great advice, support and resources.

Time to roll.

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Photo: Money hearts. I have been searching for the source with no luck so far. If you find it, let me know so I can credit!

business names are hard

I have been fretting and fussing over this business name idea for what seems like f o r e v e r r r r r r.

Back in the good old days you just named it something that started with A so it came on top in the yellow pages (AAA Locksmith). Or based on location (North Ave Tires). Or using your family name (Amato's Pizza). Now you have to think about whether the domain name is available. Is it easy to spell. Easy to say. Does it look or sound weird? Does it convey what the business does? What services you offer? Does it give a mood or a feeling? Does it have bad connotations?

I have read about simple but expensive mess ups. I still remember when Bakers Square was called "Poppin' Fresh Pies." People thought they were a bakery (they are a restaurant that happens to feature pies). And when Boston Chicken wanted to expand from chicken. Now they are "Boston Market." Luckily no one seems to think they are Boston-specific. Those are expensive mistakes and changes to make. So I did not want to restrict my name to a specific service or a specific location.

I once worked for a company called Skil Power Tools (you may have heard of them). Then they were bought by Robert Bosch. Bosch is a German company. They wanted to rename Skil and put the Bosch in there, so they opted for initials, with Bosch first of course. A quite high up person was forced into the task of explaining why "BS Power Tools" was not a good name for a US company. Finally they went with "S-B Power Tool." Not TOOLS. I answered the phone for them, and took sometimes hundreds of calls a day. You try saying S-B Power Tool aloud, over and over, dozens or hundreds of times a day, sometimes 10-15 times quickly in a row. It's not something that trips off the tongue or can be easily shortened either.

I also once worked for a company called National Textbook Company. Less famous, but hey one of my books appeared in Sandra Bullock's hands in "Miss Congeniality" (in the Russian restaurant). Then NTC was sold to Tribune Education and merged with another publishing company. Suddenly everything was "NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company." Do you realize what a PITA that name is? I am thankful I never had to deal with answering their phones. However I did deal with branding and marketing, and that's why I say, the name was a pain. The two companies were like two different planets, and the name did nothing to make them into one cohesive idea.

This is possibly why I have not been so quick about picking the right name. It has to be the right name, because I don't want to have to change it later.

I had a great idea for a name, I thought. An awesome name. Domain name taken. Alternatives, taken. Other alternatives, available but not quite right. I don't know if these are real companies or just people who buy domain names that sound good to force people to buy them to use them. In any case I am still not sure I will make any money off this deal. *I* think it's a great idea. *I* think there is a market. But I also am not a natural salesperson.

My marketing strategy, if I have one, at this point consists of 1) letting everyone I know, know, 2) getting a website put together, and not a cheap slapped together something, 3) creating flyers, 4) posting said flyers on community bulletin boards in various areas where potential customers live and work, 5) creating some Craigslist posts, 6) making a Facebook page, 7) Tweeting occasionally.

I am not making items, so I cannot provide free product or sell on etsy or have a booth somewhere. I am providing a service. And I don't intend to "sell" per se. If you need the task done but didn't know how, here I am. I am not taking it upon myself to sell the idea on anyone. Maybe I will have to, I don't know.

I might create a separate blog just for the business too, just to connect people with information. But I am obviously not a big blogger. I write a lot when I have something to say, but I have a hard time coming up with topics out of nowhere. I have gone long weeks or months and never posted here. I guess I could share this blog except it's always been kind of personal and I have enjoyed the freedom that comes with some internet anonymity. There's a reason I don't connect this blog to my LJ, my FB, my twitter. Social networking is important, but I don't want to confuse that with actually creating revenue, and creating sales. I think it often happens that someone just likes being on the internet all the time, so they create some kind of business or following out of it. This is different from actually entering into social media and using it as a tool.

Right now I have 2 friends in my target market/communities that will allow me to do a test run for them, and then I can use comments and positive sound bites from their feedback in my marketing materials. I think if others see that someone in their area used my service, and I have have references, it will help.

I also have some unfinished ideas about partnering with some public libraries in certain areas. There I can show up and do a presentation, workshop, informational talk on this area of interest. Do demos. Connect with actual people who have some interest.

The thing is, no one else is doing this. Not in this area, at least. If they are, it's a stealth thing, bc believe me, I've been looking! So there is no set market. I know people who successfully sell Mary Kay by tapping into pre-set markets. They offer free skin care clinics. They get business by putting out pretty boxes in local salons and if you put your name in there for free skin care, they get your contact info. They connect with bridal shops and offer to do the bride's make up for free if the rest of the bridal party pays, or they do her make up for free in advance, and she buys the product to do it herself on the day. These are obvious markets. I have no obvious market. I really think this is an untapped market.

But I am not doing anything until my tax refund gets in here. Sure I could use my credit card and start buying things. But then I start this idea with debt. Which misses the point.

Right now I don't have any grand schemes for this idea. I am not sitting here thinking I am going to quit my day job any time. If I got one client a month I would be super happy with that. If I had one a week I would be over the moon thrilled.

But my goal, right now, is to get ONE. One. One person to pay for this service I would happily do for free. What I wish I knew -- how long and how hard should I put myself out there before I know it's not going to work?

I prefer to think THIS WILL WORK. I'm very passionate about it. I'm excited. I know know know there are people out there who could really use my level of knowledge in this area. But, will they pay for it? Can I find them?

However, I know that many small business ideas fail. I just don't know why. I have a full time job. When I am at my job, my time and my attention belongs to them, absolutely. I might mess around online a little bit, but I am not going to be generating revenue at a side job on their dime or their equipment. That's just wrong wrong wrong.

Anyway, I just don't know how long and how hard I have to push. If I make flyers, drive around this huge city, put them up, put posts on Craigslist, tell everyone I'm open for business, make a website and... nothing happens. Well then, I've really got nothing. No other tricks up my sleeve, really. I nave never ever even had one of those home based selling businesses. I had a Partylite party ONCE and it was awful! Hardly anyone came. A few people bought things, then the Partylite lady was pushing me bc I had to have a minimum amount in sales for it to be a "party" and what was I supposed to do? I thought their stuff was way too expensive and how was I to push someone into spending $50 on a CANDLE?!?!

woooo BAD FLASHBACK moment.

I am so anti-sales that I have never once even bothered to find out how to tell how many people, if any, even read my blog here. I prefer to think of it as me talking to myself. Once in a while I get a comment adn then I am super excited. Like, hey! Someone read it! It's always such a surprise.

Once I get 7 paying clients I will have paid off the expenses I am incurring up front. I think.

Anyway, my point. I did have one.... I am really happy right now that I solved the name dilemma. It was seriously bothering me. I feel happy and content with my solution. My gut says it is right. Or at least, close enough.

I am stalking my bank account to see if my money is in there. I have a small start up budget. I have done my research and I'm ready to buy. I'm ready to go.

It's kind of scary.

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Photo 1: The same lemonade stand from this post.

Photo 2: "The Future - Now What?" From: "Boceprevir is FDA Approved: Now What?" By Dr. Joe Galati. Liver Specialists of Texas Weblog. 15 May 2011. LINK

SOtB : it's only been a week....

For some reason I feel like a giant slacker on my small business idea. Like, M, why don't you have clients already? Or a website? Or some business cards? Or a business plan? You lazy bugger, get up off your ass and get busy!

Wow. I am mean.

Keeping in mind that I have a full time day job that really wipes me out (last night I went to bed at 8:45 pm), as well as a weekly night class, I think I am doing pretty well.

So here's a SOtB (State Of the Business) Report. What I've been doing and working on.

- I have finally come up with a name I like. This involved a whole lot of jumping through hoops, because I need something that can also be a domain name and most of the ones I thought up and friends suggested were taken. I am lucky enough to know people who work in branding who helped me think about things, and then my mom suggested an idea that was really fantastic, with some tweaking.

- I not only have a name, I have a whole concept. It's quirky and fun and ME. Some people keep saying "I don't know what that word means." Hm, do I need to know what a business name means? Like WorldCom? What is that? I know what a World is, but it doesn't help. How about Adobe? 3M? Acer? Canon? Epson? Kodak? Geico? I picked a word that I liked the sound of a LOT, and I also like the meaning of it too. You don't need to understand the meaning of the word but the story behind it is cool. :-)

- I am currently asking around for opinions on my 2 domain name ideas, both are available.

- I have researched the competition. This is also how I found out most of my first name ideas were taken. I have been reading websites, getting ideas, and seeing things I really disagree with. I have also written up some rough marketing copy.

- I have worked out the hardest part - pricing. I have a tentative pricing model for new clients and a standard rate.

- I have a friend in my target market willing to be my guinea pig and with her I'll be doing a test run to see how much product/service I can fit into my pricing.

- I am researching equipment now, costs, weight, features, etc. I am down to 2 choices.

- I have been looking into web design templates and hosting services.

My plans right now are

- Once my tax refund is deposited I will purchase my first equipment. I could purchase some cheap equipment now, but I prefer to spend a lot more money and get better quality and speed, both of which are important.

- I will make arrangements with my friend to make an appointment and go to her house and try my idea out, keeping mental notes about what works and what doesn't.

- Finish writing up marketing copy and put together some ads and flyers. Putting ads on Craigslist is free. I will have to approach some businesses in my target areas to hang up some flyers. I am thinking local libraries, grocery stores, and coffee shops.

- Get my logo designed - I have an eager art student looking to to do it for me. This involves picking colors and type, which I have been looking at online. Whatever he designs is going to expand to be branding for everything else I make.

- I have made some contacts already with local archives and museums that might also be interested too.

I've also spoken (in person) about my idea to several people and even my night class. So I am getting more comfortable and fine tuning my elevator speech (30 second pitch). I have a party of all librarians to attend in a couple weeks, and I'd love to have something to hand out there or at least my website started.

it helps that I am so passionate about this idea and I really believe in it. I would hate to spend so much time and effort and energy (and soon, money) on something if I didn't believe in it. But when you believe in it, it's not a chore. It's creative and exciting.

new blog feature!!! ------->

Thanks to one of my readers, who emailed me and asked how she could subscribe to my blog via email.

Ok really I was kind of ...surprised and confused by this. Never occurred to me anyone would want to subscribe. But hey! Someone does! So that pushed me to figure out how to do it. Look at my cute little subscription box. It's adorable. So proud.

Anywhoo...

I am chatting with friends about my new business idea on my other blog (I have a password protected blog where I can be a little more open and raw, since it's a little more closed) (don't be mad) and I am really getting excited. One of my friends is a director of small museum in my area and so she had some great ideas about pricing and what to offer and marketing ideas, as someone who might possibly hire someone like me. I also got some great ideas from friends who are suburban moms in my area, my target market, and was offered ideas as to bigger markets to approach.

Right now I have a giant list of things to do, ideas to flesh out, etc. I am writing marketing copy already, trying to define a mission, looking at package pricing rates, and so on. I am waiting for my tax return to be direct deposited, and then I am going to spend some of that on the basic equipment I need, then I'm going to be doing some testing just to see what I need in terms of space and time before I go for clients. I have an eager art student begging to design my logo for me. I have a couple of friends who are great at branding (thanks, publishing industry, for drop kicking so many talented people out) that I am asking to work with me (for money of course) on development.

I am such the kind of person who, having had the idea, wants to just jump and be in the middle of it all right now now now. I don't want to spend so much time on prep that I never actually make any money. At some point i will have to put myself out there.

Here's the thing... I have no flipping clue how this is going to go. The future is wide open, and my direction and distance is only based on me and what I can do. Kind of scary.

starting a small business

So I have this idea for a small business....

I've been reading blogs written by small business owners for many years. Like this one and this one and lately this one. I've never really been interested in owning any kind of business. I was in sales once and I hated it. I hate asking people for money. I prefer the (somewhat) stability of a regular paycheck.

But I've been listening to the Dave Ramsey Show online a lot the last several months, and I even read his book EntreLeadership, which is about starting and running a business. Frequently on his show, he is talking to people who have lost jobs or aren't bringing in enough money. Frequently he can just generate ideas to make money off the top of his head. I even heard him do it for an 11 year old kid. One of his constant themes is, you need to have the right income. You need to learn how to WIN in the MARKETPLACE.

I don't think I have ever "won in the marketplace." I'm way ahead of most librarians because I actually know there is a marketplace, and that you've got to reach it. But the whole winning thing... seems intimidating.

Still I have been thinking a lot lately about what I can do to make money. My usual go-to ideas involve getting a second job, but my spine problems keep me from waiting tables or working at Target. I've looked for and applied for other types of jobs, with no luck. I didn't do very well at my one attempt at a community yard sale.

But now I have an idea. I thought about what I know how to do. What I'm good at. What I like doing. What I spend my time doing. And I wonder... would anyone pay me to do that?

I'm thinking... yes.

Right now I have no idea what to charge for my services. No one else offers what I want to offer. There are some businesses nationwide that do similar. However, I will be local. I will make house calls. Instead of dealing with some company and reading some website... you'll be dealing with ME. And learning from ME. And getting results from ME.

I have absolute confidence that I can offer better service and better quality than the national services. I can see already that I have features and benefits they don't. Like a Masters degree in this area and 13 years of work experience. I read some of these websites and I plain disagree with some of what they are saying. In fact, I plain ole think some of these people are lying, if not just misleading their potential customers. Unless they don't know that what they say is false, in which case,do you really want to hand over your precious family memories to them? I wouldn't. I'm kind of indignant about it.

But geez I have no idea what to charge. Because no one is doing what I am thinking.

I am also working on an idea for a name, and I am thinking up some branding ideas. Maybe thinking up a name doesn't seem too important, but it is to me. The name conveys the feeling of the thing. The colors. The logo. The design. It has to address my potential market. it has to connect to who I am as a person, because I'm the one you're going to get.

I am not wanting to steal anyone's ideas, but I do love love love this idea and design. I love the idea of making a series of short statements about what I do. In grad school we were taught how to develop and deliver a 30-second 'elevator speech" as a part of library advocacy and leadership. This is a similar idea. A short series of statements as to what I offer. What the idea is. What I envision.

I scan things. I preserve digital memories. I help you share your memories. I love photos and mementos. Old photos are MY favorite.

I don't think the rainbow effect is quite what I want to go for, and of course, the difference is that my statements are about me, not about others. Her statements were drawing connections between herself and her customer. We love the same things. We believe the same things. Awesome. I love that. You could easily take her "I" statements and put them up on your own inspiration board and have the statement refer to yourself. What a great way to get people to save your card, and connect to you personally.

But what I want to offer is not a way for people to do what I do because we love the same things. It's more a way for me to get people past the hurdle of I want to do that.... but first I have to do this... and this is too confusing... so I just don't do it... which means that never gets done either.

I also love this idea, where she has just one defining statement about what she does, very reduced, and it is repeated over photos of her projects. She makes stuff. Here is what she makes. I love the idea of showing proof of your statements on the cards. However I do not want to show a picture of a scanner because that is not very exciting to most people. But I can see a split shot with a before and after side by side. I am also thinking of a photobar with a selection of my own old photos from the 1950s, 1970s, 1990s that I have scanned and fixed.

So right now I am just doing research. I am looking around on Craigslist and Google, seeing who else is in the market, what they offer, how they explain their services, and how much they charge. I do have enough of a marketing background to be able to look at their copy, their feature and benefits, their mission statements, and see how it works.

I talked to my best friend about it. She had some great ideas. She even had a cool idea for a business name, which was a play on my own last name. But when I Googled I found other businesses had that name, Not that I can't adapt it, but the name was used for things like christening gowns, baby photos, and funeral markers. This is not exactly the realm where I want to position myself. I'm a little more cutting edge than that. But I also want to be accessible.

Nothing's really coming to me, but I feel sure that if I could just get myself that hook, then I could leapfrog from there. I know this because this is how my creativity functions.

If I can get a concept going, and figure out pricing, then I can put together a website, a flyer, some cards, and then contact local public libraries and set up local digital preservation workshops for people, and all the people who come will then be potential future customers.

But first... I need a name. A cool name. A good name. THE RIGHT name.

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Usually I cite where I got my photos from. But this blog post on small business was so sarcastic, negative, and mean spirited that I just don't want to send anybody there. I'm sure if you Google the image you can find the blog post.

Photo 2: Rainbow business cards. From: "The new business cards." Elise Blaha Cripe Weblog. LINK.

Photo 3: I Make Stuff business cards. From: "New blog business cards." Elise Blaha Cripe Weblog. LINK.