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Do you have a plan or just "wing it"?

by PTR
9 replies
Hi All,


I'm a new member here and just getting into the whole IM scene. I have a couple of broader questions to ask some of the more established people in the industry:
  • Do you work as an incorporated business/limited company or do you just work as an individual/self-employed?
  • Are there any particular pros/cons to working in either of those ways?
  • What sort of broader business planning did you do to get going? For example, did you sit down and write a business plan, cashflow forecast etc, or just "wing it"?
  • Did you come into this from the corporate world or did you have experience at running your on business prior?
To my mind IM should be treated like any other business but I've seen a lot of questions from new guys like me about marketing specifics but little about the broader aspects of running things like a business and was wondering if there's any correlation between future success and business planning?
#plan #wing it
  • Profile picture of the author brutecky
    Originally Posted by PTR View Post

    Hi All,


    I'm a new member here and just getting into the whole IM scene. I have a couple of broader questions to ask some of the more established people in the industry:
    • Do you work as an incorporated business/limited company or do you just work as an individual/self-employed?
    • Are there any particular pros/cons to working in either of those ways?
    • What sort of broader business planning did you do to get going? For example, did you sit down and write a business plan, cashflow forecast etc, or just "wing it"?
    • Did you come into this from the corporate world or did you have experience at running your on business prior?
    To my mind IM should be treated like any other business but I've seen a lot of questions from new guys like me about marketing specifics but little about the broader aspects of running things like a business and was wondering if there's any correlation between future success and business planning?
    1) I work under a LLC I formed
    2) Contact your tax adviser and attorney for advice on this.
    3) Not formulating a plan is a plan for failure
    4) I have owned several other business prior to coming to online work.
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  • Profile picture of the author Teravel
    1) I work as a DBA (Doing Business As).

    2) I also suggest contacting a tax advisor or business lawyer for this information.

    3) If you're just starting, Wing It! The reason I suggest this is simple. Most people get into the "Research" aspect of the business, then get stuck trying to figure out where to start or what to do next.

    If you jump in and start creating a simple Blogger or Wordpress website, at least you've gotten into the game. You learn more by making mistakes than by reading or hearing about the mistakes of others.

    4) I didn't own any prior businesses, but I had experience managing several restaurants and small retail stores.

    I suggest jumping in. Many people may disagree, but it's the best way for a beginner to get into this business. It's hard for beginners to ask the right questions, and this is the best way to find out what questions to ask.

    Just remember that you should ALWAYS read the Terms of Service of any website you use in your business. By using someone's website, you must abide by their rules or you may find yourself limited later on.
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    • Profile picture of the author PTR
      That's really interesting - two responses almost diametrically opposed!

      I think I naturally take the middle line - particularly on Q3. As the saying goes - "positive thought without positive action leads to positively nothing" - so there is certainly a need to take some sort of action rather than suffer from analysis paralysis.

      On the other hand, and to keep the balance of homilies, "failing to plan is planning to fail". For someone new starting out the list of options is huge and the danger is that in the absence of a logically thought-out plan the newbie rushes from one good idea to another and just ends up spinning in having achieved nothing.

      From what I've seen so far I'm not sure most people think of IM activity as a business, probably because it's online and doesn't have the bricks and mortar presence that we usually associate with 'a business'. It would be really interesting to be able to poll all the WF members to see what the statistics showed.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Black 68
    I wouldn't worry too much about the legal set-up until you've at least dipped your toe in..
    You can always form a company if you thinks you're going places.
    Having said that, if you're going to succeed you need to treat it like a business, which is exactly what it is - just surfing the net all day does not constitute work!
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    • Profile picture of the author gvidass
      You must have plan, how you are going to complete something if you don't even know what to do.
      I don't work to anybody, so it's not like ordinary offline job, you are your own boss, so be the best boss to make fortune
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  • Profile picture of the author Luke Corden
    Originally Posted by PTR View Post

    To my mind IM should be treated like any other business but I've seen a lot of questions from new guys like me about marketing specifics but little about the broader aspects of running things like a business and was wondering if there's any correlation between future success and business planning?
    Absolutely correct. You have to treat it like any other business. Too many people, myself included at one point, believe that the internet will just magically start spitting out money at you, as if your computer is an ATM.

    If you can get the business aspect correct than you will be in a stronger position than most.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    Only one saying comes to mind here:

    "Fail to plan and you are planning to fail."
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  • Profile picture of the author JRJWrites
    Originally Posted by PTR View Post

    • Do you work as an incorporated business/limited company or do you just work as an individual/self-employed?
    • Are there any particular pros/cons to working in either of those ways?
    • What sort of broader business planning did you do to get going? For example, did you sit down and write a business plan, cashflow forecast etc, or just "wing it"?
    • Did you come into this from the corporate world or did you have experience at running your on business prior?
    1. Individual.
    2. Dunno about the other one - individual lets YOU do what YOU want.
    3. Winged it at first. Then realized that was a retarded thing to do, and sat down to form a plan.
    4. Never owned a business before.

    Originally Posted by PTR View Post

    To my mind IM should be treated like any other business
    I 'spect. IM is a business - just an online one. You need to make accommodations because it's online, but apart from that, it's essentially the same thing.

    Originally Posted by PTR View Post

    if there's any correlation between future success and business planning?
    You bet there is.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Cutts
    I treat every site like a business and I plan every stage of the site as it helps keep focused and you know exactly where you are when it comes to keeping on top of it.

    Danny
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