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little1
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Help Me With My New Business!
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Jan 28 01:14 UTC 1999 |
Help Me With My New Business!
I have decieded to take the big plunge and open my own business. First of
all, I thought of coming to all my friends on grex and ask for any advice and
help they may have.
In my business, I will offer bookkeeping and accounting services to small
businesses on an as needed basis. Many small businesses have neither the need
or finances to employ a full-time bookkeeper and that is where my business
will come in. I will be available once just to help an owner balance their
checkbook or several times a week to enter sales, process accounts payable
and recievable and generally do the book work. Whatever the customer needs!
I also plan on helping the customers with business planning, budgeing and cost
saving ideas as hired or needed.
I have a degree in Banking and Finance and am working on a second degree in
Business Studies. I also have 3 years banking experience and 3 years
experience working as a staff accountant. I am also currently doing the same
type of work for a small business owner (that's how I came up with the idea)
and by next month will have completed my certification as a Certified
Bookkeeper.
Here's where I am asking for your help. Remember, I am in the very early
planning stages of my venture so any and all help and ideas will be
appreciated. I'd like to learn from other's mistakes.
First, has anyone else started up a business? Do you have any tips? Any
books and/or other publications I should check out. I currently subscribe
to the following: Business Start-Ups, Small Business Start-Ups, Entreprenuer,
Inc. and Bloomberg Financial.
Second, I'd really like to decided on a name. Does anyone have any
suggestions? I will tell you that I live in Gaylord, MI which has an
alpine/swiss theme. Some of the suggestions I have gotten have been: AAA
Accounting, Alpine Accounting, Beancounter Bookeeping and Budget Bookkeeping.
None of these really seem to grab me. I welcome all ideas and/or comments.
Thank you, thank you, thank you in advance in any and all help you can be!
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| 101 responses total. |
other
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response 1 of 101:
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Jan 28 01:47 UTC 1999 |
"Green Visor Accounting"
"On Demand Accounting"
"Magic Ledger Bookkeeping"
"Cratchett's Clerical"
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little1
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response 2 of 101:
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Jan 28 02:06 UTC 1999 |
One last thing I need help on that I forgot. I will need to buy a laptop and
am slightly ignorant in knowing if I am getting a good deal. So far I have
found the following two systems, both of which are available for lease. I
don't want to spend over $2000 and would prefer something I could lease.
An Acer 500 with Win 98, 266MMX processor, 3.2 GB HD, 20X CD ROM, 32 MB RAM
expandable to 128 MB and a 56K fax/modem.
A Satellite with Win 98, 253 MMX processor, 4.1 GB HD, 24X CD ROM, 32 MB Ram
and a 56K fax/modem.
The Acer's retail price is $1269 and the Satellite is $1539. Are either of
these any good? I am looking at Midwest Micro. Does anyone have a good
source? Any advice on what I should be looking for? Thanks.
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mdw
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response 3 of 101:
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Jan 28 03:17 UTC 1999 |
It's a laptop? Sit down, use the keyboard, mouse, & poke around at the
display. Those are all human factors issues where your subjective
impression counts for much more than anything else. For the rest, a lot
depends on what you are doing -- what applications you're going to use,
etc. In general, a difference of performance that is less than a factor
of two is almost invisible to the naked eye, so the difference between
253 Mhz and 266, or between 20x and 24x, is insignificant. These
differences may also be wiped out by other less obvious structural
differences such as cache architecture, memory speed, or I/O contention.
If performance is important to you, look at benchmark results obtained
by independent agencies, or construct your own benchmark and run that.
You mention 32Mb ram. A lot depends on your performance needs and usage
habits, but in general, more ram doesn't hurt. On the other hand, it
will get cheaper. How do you plan to back up your hard disk?
Alpine Financial Services
Swiss Watchdog Accounting
Helvetica Bookkeeping
Geneva Accounting Services
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steve
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response 4 of 101:
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Jan 28 03:17 UTC 1999 |
A laptop is going to be of vital importance to your business, so
this is something you can't afford to skimp on. Forunately, prices
have never been better. Unforunately, many laptops have minor to
severe physical/mechanical problems. There are two companies that
make what I consider decent laptops: IBM and Toshiba. The IBM ThinkPad
series is expensive (though cheaper than they used to be). The Toshiba's
are perhaps a little less advanced, but definitely cheaper, and have a
good reliability record overall. If you look in the magazine "Computer
Shopper" you'll find dozens (and I do mean plural) of places that sell
both kinds. A service contract will cost more but you want it.
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scg
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response 5 of 101:
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Jan 28 04:27 UTC 1999 |
I'm assuming the Satellite you're talking about is a Toshiba Satellite? The
Toshibas I've used have been really nice.
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krj
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response 6 of 101:
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Jan 28 04:45 UTC 1999 |
Agree with Marcus: you want to evaluate the keyboard and the screen
on any laptop you are considering. I like the Toshibas but your milage
may vary.
To expand upon marcus' comment about backing up your hard disk:
You need to answer the question, "What happens if someone steals the
laptop out of my car?"
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mcnally
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response 7 of 101:
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Jan 28 06:22 UTC 1999 |
For a business computer don't waste big bucks on today's fastest
processors, you're not going to need them to do word-processing or
spreadsheets. Instead, concentrate on the quality of the display,
keyboard, and pointing devices and try and get a machine with lots
of RAM. I definitely second the recommendation for the IBM Thinkpad
series laptops and you might be able to find last year's model at
a decent price..
Absolutely, positively have a backup plan of some sort. Stick to it,
too, don't get lazy..
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senna
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response 8 of 101:
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Jan 28 07:54 UTC 1999 |
I can't really add to any of the laptop advice. There are plenty of
other things to think about, though. Establish a plan for how your
business operates. How it handles customers, when you schedule things,
what processes you use, etc. Customize things so they work best for
you. Decide on a "pitch," a set strategy of selling your company to
customers. Make sure it looks and sounds refined and composed. This is
how you will make money.
Talk to other people who do this and get advice from them, see what
they've learned. It also helps to get contacts and referrals from them
if they operate in a similar area. Get a slick looking business card to
get some brand equity out there so small businesses know you're
available.
You'll notice that everything seems to tie into publicity. There's a
reason for that. When people know you're there, they'll hire you.
That makes money. That's what keeps you going. If you know what
you're doing and people know that you know what you're doing, you'll
do well. I'm probably telling you stuff you already know, but if I went
into actual operational procedures I'd just be looking even dumber,
since I have all of one semester of college experience and you have one
degree with another on the way and six years of related experience. But
that's how it goes. Good luck.
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scott
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response 9 of 101:
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Jan 28 12:08 UTC 1999 |
Here's an easy thing to remember:
"For almost any computer that you will be able to afford, your data will be
worth much more".
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danr
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response 10 of 101:
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Jan 28 12:21 UTC 1999 |
Why use a cutesy name at all? Unless you're planning to hire a bunch of people
just use your own name. You might also want to think about getting your CPA.
senna's right on the money with his advice on getting the word out about your
business. Doing a good job for clients should be your first priority, the
second is having contacts.
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devnull
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response 11 of 101:
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Jan 28 13:31 UTC 1999 |
I tend to be rather skeptical that the latest technology is necessarily
worth buying. For most purposes, the 486 I have at home is perfectly
adaquate. It does have more RAM than the average 486, I think (20 MB),
and it certainly has a much bigger hard drive (11 GB) which I bought new
about six months ago.
The annoyance that I run into is that the screen updates slowly in X11.
It can take a second or two. This isn't a fatal problem, but it's
annoying. I'm also running at 1024x768 on a 20" monitor, which is annoying;
I wish I had a better video card. If my 486 had a PCI bus (it doesn't, but
the high end 486s do), I could probably buy a fairly nice video board for
it for less than $50, and then I'd probably be completely happy with this
machine. (Other than the hard disk subsystem being lame, but that's a whole
'nother story.)
Before you buy a new computer, I'd recommend you take a look at a computer
that's a few years old. See how well the old computer can meet your needs.
Compare it to a new computer. If you can make a list of reasons why the
new computer will work better for you than the old computer, then it's fine
to go ahead and get the new computer. But if you can't figure out what
the new one will do for you that the old one won't, then you probably should
get the old one and save your money. The big computer companies would
like to sell you the latest and the greatest, but that doesn't necessarily
imply that you need the latest and the greatest.
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e4808mc
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response 12 of 101:
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Jan 28 13:43 UTC 1999 |
This response has been erased.
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cmcgee
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response 13 of 101:
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Jan 28 13:53 UTC 1999 |
This item is now linked between "agora" and "small business". "j small
business" to see other topics of interest to small business owners. "j agora"
to see a market place of ideas.
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keesan
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response 14 of 101:
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Jan 28 16:10 UTC 1999 |
Lori's Bookkeeping Service.
Do you have a homepage with the word Gaylord on it somewhere?
Have you offered your services free to a few nonprofits? They will have
contacts.
Local newspaper advertising?
Have some other way to support yourself for a few years, such as a regular
job. I did housepainting until my translation business got going.
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md
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response 15 of 101:
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Jan 28 17:10 UTC 1999 |
Ingersoll Associates. Even if there are no actual associates at
the moment, you'll be ready for them some day, and it's a great
name.
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jshafer
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response 16 of 101:
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Jan 28 22:58 UTC 1999 |
Just for the record, I have dealt with Midwest Micro in
the past, and they did a good job of customer service.
I haven't dealt with them lately, however.
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russ
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response 17 of 101:
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Jan 29 00:13 UTC 1999 |
Re #0: Lori's Ledgers
Ledgers by Lori (give it an up-scale feeling).
If you have a laptop, make certain that your hard drive is
removable. If you can plug it into a desktop machine, so
much the better. What you need are two capabilities:
1.) The ability to back up your data elsewhere.
2.) The ability to run your business even if the
laptop machine, or its hard drive, fails.
Ideally you'd be able to walk into the nearest office-supply
place, buy a new machine, and be back in operation within a
few hours of a complete failure of your portable.
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orinoco
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response 18 of 101:
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Jan 29 00:53 UTC 1999 |
Ledgers by Lori sounds like a company selling artsy bookkeeping supplies with
floral patterns and poetic slogans.
I'm voting for "Ingersoll Associates" or "Green Visor Accounting"
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senna
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response 19 of 101:
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Jan 29 01:31 UTC 1999 |
Here's a vote for Ingersoll Associates
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devnull
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response 20 of 101:
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Jan 29 01:52 UTC 1999 |
Re #17: Yes, it's nice if you can buy a new machine and have it working
correctly within a few hours. I haven't seen it happen in practice.
I tend to find it useful to have lots of machines configured in a useful
state, so that when things start failing I can work on something else.
(In practice, these days that seems to mean that of the four machines I have
at home, one is actually useful.)
I don't see where an easily removable hard drive necessarily helps. And
if you want to be able to get to the laptop's hard disk from your desktop,
you ought to consider investing in ethernet.
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devnull
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response 21 of 101:
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Jan 29 01:58 UTC 1999 |
Here's how one small business came up with its name (quoted from its web
site):
Where did it come from?
It's Welsh. I was looking for a business name. I tried three different
names, and New York State told me (one by one) that they were all
used. Three months, $15 and much aggravation later I decided to pick a
name that *no one* would have thought of before. A friend of mine
knows Welsh, and named his lab computers after the days of the week,
the months of the year, etc. Well, rather than pick a euphonious but
meaningless Welsh name, I looked up Quaker in Welsh and liked it.
Hence Crynwr Software.
What does it mean?
Crynwr in Welsh literally means "cringer". Capitalized, it becomes a
proper noun meaning "Religious Society of Friends".
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mcnally
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response 22 of 101:
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Jan 29 04:39 UTC 1999 |
I'd also vote for "Ingersoll Associates" but fear that you might have a
conflict with an existing firm..
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eieio
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response 23 of 101:
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Jan 29 04:52 UTC 1999 |
Or you could go totally abstract. Lately at work we've been dealing a lot with
a company called "Promax".
I know what kind of firm Promax is, but the name doesn't help you out any.
Any number of types of businesses could be called Promax, as fittingly as
these guys are. (Off the top of my head, I'm thinking of custom paint
matching, prescription drugs, auto body shops, "novelty lubricants", or
management advisors.)
I vote abstract.
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scg
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response 24 of 101:
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Jan 29 05:54 UTC 1999 |
From a web search I just did, Ingersoll & Associates is dealer of automatic
bag closing equipment, in St. Charles, Illinois. I think a corporation name
or DBA only has to be unique within a state. Trademark law, if I understand
it correctly, only gets concerned in cases of "famous companies" or in cases
where the companies are similar enough in service area, type of business, etc.
that there would be confusion between the two companies. Given that I don't
think anbody would suspect that the Ingersoll Associates bookkeeping firm in
Gaylord was also an automatic bag closing equipment dealer in St. Charles,
Illinois, I doubt that would be an issue either.
You could also go for something with a neat TLA (three letter abbreviation).
I suppose Gaylord Accounting Services wouldn't come out quite right in that
sense.
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