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Where to Begin?

by Heather Dawn
23 replies
Hi, everyone!

I'm very interested in starting to freelance as a marketing consultant, and possibly to turn that into a small agency. I've got a name and a domain, and I'm working on a website (one of my graphic designer friends is creating my logo). I've also got my Facebook page ready. I'm interested in consulting/working with small local business, at least to start.

Other than that, and putting out some feelers, I'm not sure where to begin.

Some background: I currently work as a Digital Marketing Account Manager at a small agency, but I'm looking to move on from them. (I figure I'll continue working full-time until I know if I can actually make a living with my own company.) I'm also back in school (Penn State) part-time, working on an Advertising and PR degree w/a focus in Strategic Communications.

So the work, itself, I'm clear on (obviously). My concern is how to handle contracts, payments, even taxes. I just don't know where to begin, and the more I research, the more complicated it gets. Am I overthinking it?

Thank you so much!
#agency #begin #business #consultancy #smb
  • Profile picture of the author nzchick
    Well done heather on starting your approach to working for yourself - so exciting. Have you looked into posting on here to get work. When I was starting out I asked around in the city I live in and got some really great advice from a professional before starting which I think you are being very wise in doing. I am not offering you advice - heaven forbid just wanted to let you know. Good luck
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    • Profile picture of the author Heather Dawn
      Hi, nzchick!

      Thanks for the reply! I definitely want some advice from those who've already started their own business. I haven't thought about looking for clients yet, as I want to have everything in place (website, business model, etc.) before I do. But again, perhaps I'm overthinking? Argh!
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve B
        Heather,

        Congratulations on your new career - it's obvious that you've given this new direction some thought.

        You are right . . . don't quit your day job just yet. Others will tell you to burn the escape ships (you know the story) and move forward 100% with your new business. Don't do it. It will take time to establish yourself and get paying clients and there's no need to burden and stress yourself early on in your own business. I would keep your day job and don't resign until the income from your new business is at least what you're making now and has been coming in for several months so you know that your expenses and bills can be paid.

        Make good use of the "search" function in this forum and explore specific topics that you have an interest in like service contracts, digital payments, federal taxes, etc.

        Don't be too quick to spend money. There will be a lot of marketers that will try to sell you their "must have" business solutions and software for your new agency. Resist it all until you understand the IM field.

        Congrats on your decision to start "solo."

        Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author napoleonfirst
    You can hire freelancers at Elance or Upwork and they can handle all the work for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Most of your clients will come from email contact to them. This may be the most important thing that you want to focus on to land clients. So make sure you do email marketing, get an autoresponder (Aweber or Getresponse), and integrate it into your site. Do you know how much you want to charge for your services, and have you created a questionaire that you should ask each potential client before they sign the deal?
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    • Profile picture of the author nzchick
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
        Get a DBA.
        Get an accountant (if it is a good one, they will kick you off for free and tell you a lot of what you need).

        Get some clients you can use for references. This is really easy. And you don't necessarily have to do things all for free.

        For example, I recently relocated for the winter as I have some personal business to deal with down south.

        I hopped on Craigslist, and found some people looking for help with wordpress. Turned out one new client needed more than just WP help. Before even meeting with them I spent about 4 hours researching what they had going on based only on the name of the blog they had up and running. What could have been a simple quick tutoring session is now blown into some marketing and SEO work for them which is going to take some time. But what is more important is my new found local connection/reference for more local work.

        Don't be afraid to jump in and get dirty, and take the time to learn as much about potential clients as you can before meeting with them.

        It's important to ask them what their problems are, but just as important to identify problems they don't even know they have before you go in.

        There are some offline products here on this forum which include some sample contract type stuff that can be modified - and there are sites all over the web that you can buy into and they will give you these too (this is not legal advice btw as I'm not a lawyer so do with that info as you will).

        If you go the DBA route, you will have a quick and dirty start up way to take checks for the business or you can route people to pay via paypal.

        I actually just got handed cash - but before going in I had an invoice ready to go and was able to just email it directly to the client so they had an instant receipt.

        Preparing is 9/10 of the battle.
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  • Profile picture of the author art72
    "Where to Begin?"

    Ironically, at the finish line.

    The first thing is to know the solution your client needs. By working in reverse order, and putting the client first, you can gather the tools, resources, products, training, and information they are seeking by researching the demand and more importantly, the solution.

    Once you've categorized that information, research your competition. Seek out their strengths, and expose their weaknesses, as this will allow to develop a 'plan' to package and present your offerings.

    Naturally, as you work backwards, you'll have a clear grasp of your target audience, their needs, and have gauged the market & pricing through your competitors.

    As your focus remains on the clients needs, and research the competitors in that niche, you'll be able to see what tools, resources, and business items they are using to run a successful business.

    Emulate the success of your competitors.

    Lastly, when your foundation is laid out, start building your online real estate. This will include 'understanding' your role as a 'solutions provider' much clearer.

    And it will enable you to 'lay out' the path leading to the clients solution.

    Finally, all the legal aspects you mentioned, taxes, and personal business management will come as the money comes.

    So, as most people obsess about 'where to start?" - I personally think knowing the solution you intend to provide and to whom, and for how much, is easily obtainable through the looking glass of your competitor/boss/mentor/client/ or audience from the onset.

    Then worry about the technicalities, like taxes, web content, contracts, etc...

    So, look at your plan in reverse order. What does your ideal client want? need? expect? or desire from your product or service?

    All the Best,

    Art
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    • Profile picture of the author luketr
      Heather,

      Congratulations on taking the plunge with your new venture!

      So the work, itself, I'm clear on (obviously). My concern is how to handle contracts, payments, even taxes. I just don't know where to begin, and the more I research, the more complicated it gets. Am I overthinking it?
      With all respect, I think you are overthinking it

      Contracts
      Each customer is going to be different with what they require - and, perhaps, how much they pay - but there will always be underlying contractual points applicable to all of your customers.

      First of all, sketch out all the general issues, eg: what your payment terms are, any refund policies, any time frames for delivery of work, expected results...etc. This becomes an Annex / Appendix / last sections in a word template which all customers will be subject to. (And it doesn't have to be anything fancy, take a look at your current work's contracts for ideas).

      Then, on a case by case basis, itemise what you are going to do for each Small Business as you get each client. It could be "free written", or you could "tick-off" services from a pre-made list and write the agreed price next to them.

      Payments
      If you are local to the companies to whom you are offering services there is no reason why you should have any problems here. In any event, setting up a PayPal account is probably your best (fastest and easiest) option; where you can create one-off or recurring professional looking invoices to send to your clients. The beauty of utilising PayPal to begin with is that undoubtedly businesses are going to want Invoices & it takes care of all of that for you.

      There's things like online payment processors and integrated billing into your website, but I personally don't think its worth the hassle as your customers aren't likely to have a preference either way. Some businesses may want to pay by Bank Transfer in which case you may need to manually generate an invoice each billing period, but this can be expedited with templates. You may even get cash like Jill!

      Taxes
      Having started a number of medium sized businesses in 2 different countries, I can say with experience, getting an accountant to deal with this for you is the best thing you can do. Accountants these days are not expensive: you send them a copy of your invoices from PayPal; your bank statements to show receipt of payments & any receipts for business purchases to claim tax against.

      The simplicity of knowing that all of that is done (& correctly!) is well worth their fee.
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  • Profile picture of the author Heather Dawn
    Wow, am I glad someone pointed me to this forum - you're all incredibly helpful, thank you!!!

    Randall, to answer your question - no, I haven't figured out how much to charge yet. Since I'll be the sole employee right now (though I have a graphic designer friend who will be helping on a project-by-project basis), I can't necessarily use my current employer's model. Do you have a suggestion on how to start with pricing? Should I work "cheap" for now while building references and a client base?

    It can't be understated how helpful I've found all your suggestions - thank you so much!
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    • Profile picture of the author luketr
      If I may throw my 2 cents in again, Heather. With regard to pricing I believe you should never start "cheap". It ultimately devalues your product in the eyes of your potential customers. Don't forget you can always offer x months free, x% off to make it seem cheaper initially.

      Also, you need to consider "cheap" is a relative term and is dependent on both your clients budget and how much ROI value you can bring. It pays to do research on your client first as much as possible to determine what their particular circumstances are. Offer them a "free consultation" and use it as a fact finding exercise as Randall suggests.
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  • Profile picture of the author RS3RS
    Originally Posted by Heather Dawn View Post

    So the work, itself, I'm clear on (obviously). My concern is how to handle contracts, payments, even taxes. I just don't know where to begin, and the more I research, the more complicated it gets. Am I overthinking it?
    The hard parts are getting clients (sales / prospecting), retaining clients, and deliverables.

    The stuff you listed is all minor. Contract templates are easy enough to find online, and don't have to be all that fancy. I've had clients pay in a bunch of different ways (Paypal, bank transfers, checks via mail, merchant account, etc). They're usually more flexible than you might assume. If you can type an invoice in Word, you're good.

    Taxes... Quick Books / TurboTax have you covered. Or just let an accountant handle it (they aren't that expensive).

    Focus on the big picture. When I started agency and enterprise level consulting, I didn't know the first thing about invoicing or taxes. I figured it out, and you will too.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Hey Heather,,
      Sounds like you are heading in a good direction.

      Just curious you say you want to start with small local businesses and do consulting but what is exactly your business model? (Maybe I am missing something here ??)

      This might help people here give you more helpful additional tips if they knew this


      - Robert Andrew
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      • Profile picture of the author discrat
        Hey Heather,,
        Sounds like you are heading in a good direction.

        Just curious you say you want to start with small local businesses and do consulting but what specifically is your business model or the model you want to pursue? (Maybe I am missing something here ??)

        This might help people here give you more helpful additional tips if they knew this


        - Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    Also check out the offline marketing section here, if you plan to go after local businesses.
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    If you want to get GET CLIENTS as well as GET THE INFO you're looking for, hit Twitter and look for DMAs.

    There are tons of DMAs on Twitter and they would love to network with you.

    In fact, many might send you 'overflow' work if it becomes clear to them that you know what you're talking about.

    Get out there and network and put together a nice portfolio so you can be more credible.
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  • Profile picture of the author parklands
    Sent you a P.M.
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  • Profile picture of the author jodope147
    WF has some good sections too for your marketing purpose. Dont forget to check over..
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    Stay +ve, J.

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  • Profile picture of the author Heather Dawn
    Thank you all so much!

    I've been working on my website, and my logo is in-progress. I've set up FB and Twitter for the agency, and someone I know is going to be giving e some freelance work which I'll be able to then add to the site's Clients page.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex The Lion
    Congratulations Heather! I would highly recommend hiring an accountant or using an assisted accountancy package. The support of someone who knows what they are doing regarding Tax is invaluable.

    Also, I like the Round and 360 name combo, nice choice!
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    • Profile picture of the author Heather Dawn
      Originally Posted by Alex The Lion View Post

      Congratulations Heather! I would highly recommend hiring an accountant or using an assisted accountancy package. The support of someone who knows what they are doing regarding Tax is invaluable.

      Also, I like the Round and 360 name combo, nice choice!
      Thanks!!! I was hoping people would get the connection!

      I have a mentor, of sorts, who's giving me advice on business and such. I'll definitely be looking into an accountant, especially because I plan to file for an LLC this month.

      I also have some people throwing business at me, already - it's awesome!
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      • Profile picture of the author Alex The Lion
        Originally Posted by Heather Dawn View Post

        Thanks!!! I was hoping people would get the connection!

        I have a mentor, of sorts, who's giving me advice on business and such. I'll definitely be looking into an accountant, especially because I plan to file for an LLC this month.

        I also have some people throwing business at me, already - it's awesome!
        Great work Heather and congratulations, it's fantastic to hear another success story!
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    Do you have a suggestion on how to start with pricing? Should I work "cheap" for now while building references and a client base?
    Write down a list of "keywords" you think potential clients might search.

    Search them yourself and investigate the sites that come up. These will be the model to build on.

    Do they offer similar services?

    What do they charge?

    How do they accept payment?

    What are their TOS?

    This should give you a good idea of where you can fit in to the market.

    Don't be too quick to spend money. There will be a lot of marketers that will try to sell you their "must have" business solutions and software for your new agency. Resist it all until you understand the IM field.
    Excellent advice!

    You are in the perfect position (unlike most) to start an online business because you have a stable income and shouldn't be in a hurry.
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    • Profile picture of the author Heather Dawn
      Originally Posted by Brent Stangel View Post

      Write down a list of "keywords" you think potential clients might search.

      Search them yourself and investigate the sites that come up. These will be the model to build on.

      Do they offer similar services?

      What do they charge?

      How do they accept payment?

      What are their TOS?

      This should give you a good idea of where you can fit in to the market.
      Wow, great advice - thank you! I've already compiled a list of local agencies, but they don't typically have that info available on their sites - so I think I have to broaden my search a bit to bigger agencies that may have a bit more info available and then, perhaps, scale down.
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