New Bussiness

[Randallhurd]

Well It's official.
I have a New Bussiness....
I did my DBA this morning at the county.
I named it (Aerial RC Photog)
Of Rockwall Texas...
Now that I have a bussiness I have figure out how to make it work.
Any Ideas out there...I'm all Ears,,,,

[Wbird]

Congrats! How's if feel, being all official & stuff. Nice to know that paperwork is in order when dealing with larger companies. Let's them know that you are serious about what you do.

What kind of info are you looking for? How can we help out?

[Randallhurd]

I was at the Bank this morning setting up accounts,
They were asking for Contracts / Receipts and a few other things...
I guess my 1st step would be working on contract formats, Receipts, Merchant services, (CC Machine) and maybe a couple employees...
I've been working on Logos this afternoon, I feel pretty good about getting this off the ground. :YeaBaby:

If anyone has an Idea about where to find AP contracts and maybe some receipt formats, ie legal disclaimers etc.... Let me know!!

And thanks for the Help:thumbup:

[Wbird]

Do you have insurance and all that stuff taken care of yet? If you need to do up a business plan for any of your local authorities or insurance I could email what I used for a guideline. I kept it very simple and didn't offer any more info than the essentials. As far as reciepts and stuff I use Quickbooks. You can get the basic version fairly cheap and it works well for keeping track of bank accounts and invoicing, statements, etc. I do not use a merchant point of sale for my AP work. I guess I just trust people and take cheques. The machine is going to cost you at least $40.00 per month whether you use it or not. I'ts your call if it is worth the $500/year and still possibly have to take cheques anyway.

Why are you looking for a couple of employees? Although it is handy to have help it soaks up any profit you might have had until you are busy with it full time. I just get the customer to be my lookout and do a brief overview of the job with them before the flight. Think of it as being paid and haveing the person that is paying you also being a free employee. I make it a requirement that the customer is present and usually it isn't a problem as they all want to see the heli fly anyway.

[MarkWebber]

I always try to press for check/cash when practical. No fun giving up some of your profits to the CC companies in way of fees. Obviously, we've got the CC acceptance for the retail side but most often I get paid via check for AP services. You can avoid the hassle and cost of a CC terminal and go with a virtual terminal. If you've got wireless service, the virtual terminal will work whereever you've got a laptop. However, only infrequently will I hand over photos w/o any cleanup so it's generally not an issue to complete the transaction on the spot.

[Randallhurd]

Do you have insurance and all that stuff taken care of yet? If you need to do up a business plan for any of your local authorities or insurance I could email what I used for a guideline. .

I don't have the Bussiness plan. I've checked with the local Authorities, I think I'm covered on that part. The Bank was the one wanting more info that the State County and Local. I have a binder on Insurance, I have to dig it up. I'll take care of that next week. Mechant Services is something the bank wanted to set. I'll probably go with checks for the short term.I haven't heard of Virtual Terminal. That would be interesting.

[Randallhurd]

I have to have someone run the Cam while I Pilot..
I don't know that I'll have employees for that, Maybe If I get lucky enough with expansion later on, I have a Kid that's into Photo Video classes in High School now, that would love to run a Lap-top and joy stick Cam Navigational program for Aerial Photog work. :YeaBaby:

[Wbird]

Don't let the banks push you around. Unless you are getting a loan they shouldn't care what you are doing. They insisted on me getting the big fat binder and business cheques for my account (because it had to be setup as a business account to be able to deposit cheques with a business name) but I stood my ground and was able to get the cheap personal cheques. (just one example) Not that I am anything special but if you go in knowing what you want and insist on getting it you usually can. You don't have to be rude or aggressive but very confident and controlled. This works with getting insurance and in my case dealing with Transport Canada, or anyone for that matter. Sorry to make a big deal out of this but I hate to see what banks think they can charge you for just because you want to run a business.

I pay all the fees and have the point of purchase terminal, and employees, in my other business but it also has the volume to justify it and they are necessities. For AP it is just a waste of money and time to deal with.

[Wbird]

Ok if you can hire one of your kids, yes make an exception there. Great tax breaks as well if you do it right. I have so far been running with just a shutter trigger and I set the camera angle before I go up. Takes a bit more time and you end up taking a lot more pictures but the way I figure it that litte extra time is way cheaper than paying someone to watch a screen and run another set of controls. Different story if you want to do video but I haven't had any demand for that here yet.

[skywalker73]

Congrats, Good luck with your new business. You can get a lot of the legal forms and templates you are looking for at Staples or Office Depot. One other thing, I believe your "bussiness" should be spelled business.

[Randallhurd]

Amazingly enough, The bank called earlier and said I need to come in and talk about checks, I don't know that I'll get the big book of checks. I like keeping it simple also. I will need the Credit card machine because of the Area that i'm in.
I know that 90% of all bussiness in this area of Texas is done with Plastic.
When I talk to merchant Services tomorrow, I'll keep it skeptical... :YeaBaby:

[Randallhurd]

Over the last three months, I've been buying up the equipment that I need to include the Digital SLR Full frames. I have a couple probates that are going to give the Big push later next month on the High End Flight gear.
Do think I need a loan at this point. But the bank did say they would give me one In two years if I needed it. I thought that was pretty nice of them :thumbdown:

[Wbird]

Over the last three months, I've been buying up the equipment that I need to include the Digital SLR Full frames. I have a couple probates that are going to give the Big push later next month on the High End Flight gear.
Do think I need a loan at this point. But the bank did say they would give me one In two years if I needed it. I thought that was pretty nice of them :thumbdown:

2 years, you're lucky. Here it is 3-5 depending on what they think of you, and that is with a traditional business that can have a proven track record. I have found that when starting something new you are pretty much on your own but usually all you need is enough determination and an ability to block out the nay-sayers and the rest will work itself out. LOL Sounds like you're on the right track. Keep it up.

[Randallhurd]

I just picked up a copy of Quick Books Premier 2008
Geeeezzzzzzz.. That's going to take a couple days to work out..
back in the 90's I used to get paid to learn a company sofware in two days, then go teach their employees ,, IT Support,,,
I guess it's been a while,,,
I picked up some basic supplies today,,,All i can say is WOW...
I need some customers..

[Wbird]

I use Quickbooks Pro and just upgraded a couple of weeks ago to 2008. Quite a change from 2007. If you need any help with it let me know, I will do what I can. I have been using Quickbooks for a few years now. BTW there is a few bugs in 08 that will need to be worked out so if things don't work 100% it might be a needed upgrade that is sure to come in the near future.

And yes customers are nice. Especially if you dropped your walled for the premier version. Is there features in there that you needed or did the salesman just sell you on it. I would be running basic if I didn't need payroll for my other business. Pro has pretty much all the bells and whistles you need. The online remote option in Premier is so slow I found it quicker to drive to my shop to do the work rather than wait 5 minutes for each page to load so I downgraded back to pro to save some cost.

[Randallhurd]

I have a pretty high speed network at home with a RAID sys.. It's clicking right along...
I'm loading in all the Items right now, I'll build the Purchase orders tomorrow ..
All the hand loading is Neck Breaking,, I'm running back up file to a 6 Disk array, so it's pretty quick,,,
The Items were confusing at first, and i did have to Build another bussiness account and drop the first one, I think I butchered the first one,,, :o
Wooopsss,:YeaBaby:
I think I'm tracking now,,, Loading that last six months in the system getting caught up is the killer part,,, :thumbup:
I'll definantly need some help once I get all the data loaded,,,
And I appreciate the Help...

[Wbird]

My workstation at my shop has dual hard drives on raid and it definitely makes a huge difference. I just found the remote option that quickbooks uses through the internet is very slow. Nothing to do with the horsepower in your cabinet. Sounds like you are on the right track, opening another company and all. Been there, done that. LOL A few times. Seems like you have to do a couple setups learning as you go and find things as you go along. One thing that might help is that you can export lists and accounts, and pick & choose a bit, to a file and then load them into the new company file. Saves a lot of time if you are starting from scratch.

[Randallhurd]

I just finished the Items list, since I guess you have to build that before PO's.
I loaded all the Items purchased in the last six months..
17 Hours and sore neck....WOW!!!!
I guess that means that most of the Data Crunching is done...
:YeaBaby:
Again
Thanks fo the encouragement and help..
I'll keep chugging along until complete... :wink:

[Tonystott]

Sounds all great Randall, but you haven't once mentioned "customers". How do you intend getting them? Do you have a marketing plan, with mail-outs/brochures/business cards/advertising copy etc etc? As far as I can see, actually getting photos represents about 10% of the job, and I would reckon at least 75% of the rest is getting clients who will provide income.

good luck!

[Randallhurd]

I'm dropping my current domain and setting the new one to match the new Bussiness, Customer focus will be Real-estate. Adds, logos, contracts, receipts, Logs, there is a lot of things that I'm working on right now over the weekend,
Printing, documents, legal and Liabilities are getting worked monday,,,
Lots to do, Customers are going to be the hard part, The Bank is second, and the paperwork Is a pain, but I know that should be the least of my worries,,,
:o

[Tonystott]

Randall, it has been pointed out to you before, but the correct spelling is "business"

[Randallhurd]

Yep, that is a fact,,,
Noted,,,,
:noteworthy

[iflybyu77]

Is the carriage in front of the horse?

No offense, but you may be sitting on your hands for a while, with a lot of money spent and no income - soon. My recommendation is to test the market FIRST, and then spend money pulling in your clients.

Many a business has tanked because a owner decided to make a widget, and built a widget factory and employees to make the widget, advertised the widget and on and on only to find out the widget was SO yesterday or no one wanted to buy it for X or Y reason.

[Randallhurd]

I've thought about that and talked with local realestate agengies and found that I had a market for Higher end Properties, Lets say $250,000.00 +
I did some research on housing areas and the Market for sales and found that the information so much that there wouldn't be a shortage of potential jobs.

I have a full time job that's floating this venture, unfortunately for now.
As far as Assets, I picked up a copy of Quickbooks which I've been working on for the last two days,,, MAn,, And learning the software to???? It's been challenging.

Total Assests aquired over the last 6 Months are over 10K. The income side is a little short, I hope the fix that soon,
I'm working on pricing and contracts today.. I went to several stores looking for some verbage to copy,, Didn't pan out so well...
Still need them for the Bank next week,, I don't know why the Bank Officer is so worried about it, since there wasn't a loan agaist the company.

[Wbird]

Glad to see you jump in with both feet and half an arm. Kind of the way I do things too. Don't overlook the need to be a little cautious on spending as it can get out of hand fairly quickly.

And with the Getting Customers Idea. Don't be discouraged if you were promised a bunch of work and only see a quarter of it. Law of people & numbers. If you want 2 get 10 committed. 3 will change their mind, 2 will have something come up, and 3 will forget. You have 2 Customers and you don't know which ones they are out of the 10. Anything more than that is bonus and should be appreciated. There is ways of improving the odds and better ways of marketing but it will take you some time to learn and develop these, so for the first year this is the guidelines to follow. I have been involved in a couple of sucessful business totally unrelated and the same always applies. Again Don't Be Discouraged. Get out more.

I have also invested over 10k this past year to start my AP business but I figured most of it was hobby anyway so I wasn't expecting to make a pile of money with it. I got 3,500 back with very little effort and $0.00 spent advertising so I figure I am doing alright. Next year may be better but if not all is well. You have to decide what you want out of it and then come up with a plan to achieve that. Unsucessful people don't plan to fail, they just fail to plan.

I'm Cheering for you. Get 'r' done!