Are You Sitting In the Wrong Room?
It finally feels warm here today, so I’m allowing myself to think about spring cleaning…the business.
Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been working away at this for awhile or you’re anywhere in between – I encourage you to take a good look around and ask yourself honestly how things are going. If your answer sounds anything like this:
Things are going okay. I’m doing all that I can. I’m doing everything I’m ’supposed’ to be doing. This is the most I can hope for in this economic climate. What else could I possibly do?
Then, I invite you to listen to this story.
When I was 20 weeks pregnant with my daughter, we found out that she was really small. Everything else about her looked fine, other than the fact that she was tiny. By the time she was 35 weeks it seemed like she just wasn’t getting what she needed in her internal home – at all. So, the doctors wanted to take her out.
The very idea of this turned everything we knew on its head. She wasn’t fully cooked! Babies are supposed to thrive in the womb for a specific amount of time. All of the conditions on the inside are ’supposed’ to be perfect. So, how could bringing her out make it better?
All I know, is that it did. When we brought her out of the womb and into the room 5 weeks early at 2.8 lbs., she thrived. Gained 2 oz. per day, hightailed it out of the NICU in a week and a half, floored the doctors, never had a thing wrong with her.
Think about your business, your creativity, your productivity. If it’s moseying along, but not flourishing. If you think there could be more – even though you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing. Think about doing something else. Find out if you’re sitting in the wrong room.
Maybe you need to:
- Switch professions
- Find a niche
- Join a social network like Twitter
- Attend some live conference or workshops
- Shift your workstyle
- Change the physical space where you usually work
- Collaborate with other creatives
- Write in a new medium, like blogs, white papers, annual reports
- Get a new computer
- Combine forces with another freelancer who complements your work (a writer and a web designer, for example)
- Go directly after a company that you’d like to work with…
There are so many ways to ‘change rooms’…What could it do for you? How will you do it?
FYI – Flexpaths is a great resource, if you’re thinking about changing careers or creating a flexible work environment.
Image courtesy of RBerteig
Filed under How To, The Business | Tags: business development, business growth, copywriter, designer, freelance copywriting business, Julie Roads, small business, small business owner, Writing Roads | Comments (6)Fears Have Ears
A good friend just told me this story:
When my daughter was 2 she developed this phobia of bugs. It was so bad she wouldn’t go outside. So my wife came up with the idea of her screaming at the bugs: ‘GO AWAY BUGS! YOU CAN’T BOTHER ME!’ And it worked.
He suggested that I yell, ‘Go away kidney stones’ – as the logical cure. And, our other friend, who was listening, noted, “The stones don’t have ears.”
To which he replied, “Neither did the bugs.”
But we have ears, don’t we. Which makes me think there’s really something to this theory. We hear what we say about ourselves – somewhere inside it gets internalized, and we believe it.
The fears have ears.
Are you feeding yours? Or blasting them out of the park?
How does this affect you as you move forward with your writing, your business or new forays into places like Twitter? How does it affect your life?
Image courtesy of AussieGall
Filed under How To, Myth or Reality, Social Media, The Business | Tags: copywriter, copywriting, fear, freelance business, freelance copywriter, Julie Roads, small business, social media, Twitter, Writing, Writing Roads | Comments (7)DBA, LLC, Inc – What’s a freelancer to do?
Up until last week, Writing Roads operated as a DBA. But, as my business has grown, the LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) title has been calling my name, and I just made it official. Still, there are even more options.
What do they all mean? And what is the impetus for selection as a freelancer or small company?
DBA stands for ‘doing business as’ and effectively allows you to ‘do business as’ any business name that you choose – without being a legal entity. As a DBA, you can set up a bank account and list your outfit in the phone book. Your tax ID # is your social security number and you have no legal protection between your business and personal life. In other words, if someone sued you for something work-related, they could take your house.
LLC is a Limited Liability Corporation or Company where the owners are considered members and the entity is legal and must be filed with the state. In addition, you must make sure that there is no one else with your name before you can become an LLC. Taxes are paid on earnings only and your personal assets are protected in the case of debt payment and collection or litigation.
Incorporation (Inc.) essentially creates a corporation (a Close Corp, S Corp or C Corp – which each have different tax and stock structures) with somewhat similar functionality to the LLC in that your personal assets are separate, but connected, but in this case shares and stocks (and shareholders) may be involved. The incorporation laws are by state and a corporation is also eligible to file for bankruptcy. Finally, corporations have the benefit of possibly uninterrupted and infinite lifespans, where a sole proprietorship holds many stipulations in the event of death by the owner.
This is, of course, a very cursory rundown of these terms, but for me it provides enough information that I know that I’ve outgrown the DBA and I’m not a good fit for the Inc. The LLC fits just right. Important note: the DBA process is free, the other two will run you roughly $800+.
I highly recommend that you speak with a lawyer and/or your financial advisor to make the best decision for yourself and your business.
