That being said it is that you pair yourself with the right vendors. Do the research and find the right people.

When I started an apparel company a few years back I did one thing wrong in this respect and one thing right.

What I did wrong. I jumped in with a vendor that was not a good match because I was excited to see my product materialize. While this vendor was more than capable of offering top of the line product we turned out to be somewhat incompatible. While there where a number of reason we were incompatible the main reason was size. The level of business did not match. Of course I would love to blame it on the vendor but having had the time to look back on this I am able to admit that it was no fault but my own. I got excited about the prospect of having real tangible product in my hands and failed to properly research the vendors with which I paired my business.

After some time I was able to take a step back and repair myself with a new vendor. This vendor could offer a similar quality but more importantly they could easily accommodate my currently level of business as well as a bit of growth. Note hear that in my opinion it is very important that you choose a vendor who will be able to scale as your business scales.

What I did right. In the second part of the above experience you will notice that I learned from the first. After making one mistake I realized it was time to take a step back, stop rushing things and really research the best fit.

Before you begin however it is of utmost importance that you identify exactly what you need. While I think it is important that you launch your product or service in a highly polished state, you will be surprised what you can eliminate from the needs category to attain this polished state. The needs category is a list of things, that while they may seem like a good idea are not necessary in order to launch with the best possible product. For example, while buying that shiny new printer that doubles as an espresso machine may give you the feeling that you can now compete with the big boys, it it really necessary. You get the idea.

How to conduct your research. There is an endless supply of good information out there from which you can start researching your vendors. For example when I was conducting research for my venture I hit the forums, the related blogs, trade shows (both local and national) and last but not least got out and talked with people. I talked with potential vendors as well as the people who have had experience with those potential vendors.

The single most helpful aspect of my research was good old fashioned customer reviews and experiences. I’m not talking about the kind that are incentivized, I am talking about real people in real situations similar to my own.

How did the vendor suit their business. Was it a good fit. Did they have any problems. Was the vendor able to meet their needs?

In summary: Slow down, no one knows better than I the excitement of creating a new business or a new product. Contain it and step back. Do your research and pair yourself with the vendors that are going to make it possible for you to succeed. Sure you are going to stumble but the fewer hangs the better the chance of a successful partnership and the more likely your new product will succeed.

The Moral: Let it be known that while I did in fact find a vendor the more suited my business, I believe the damage was already done. My startup capital had essentially been drained and it may have already been a bit too late.

If you don’t know, I am pretty active on Twitter and have adopted the habit of reading a lot of what comes across my twitter stream. That’s what I get for following interesting people. (If you are a client of mine, not to worry, I use Instapaper so I can continue to get the work done on time.)

Anyhow in thinking about where to go with this blog I have been diving into a lot of business blogs and startup articles lately. One I found particularly motivating was this one on the Outright.com blog.

For those of you that are not familiar with Outright I highly recommend you check it out. It has made the otherwise boring and laborious task of accounting extremely easy for my small business. (boring is my opinion, I’m not a numbers guy.)

Anyhow it talks about taking risks in small business and why you should be doing it. I particularly like the portion about Co-Branding. Personally I think it super important for the small business or sole proprietor to form good relationships and partnerships with others inside and outside of their own market. Like they say, you can’t do it all yourself. Having these strategic partnerships can do wonders for moving your business forward.

Enough from me, have a look at the article Why You’re Not Taking Risks with Your Small Business (And Why You Should)

Regardless of what the late night television commercials or the one page web sites might claim, the internet is not going to make you rich overnight. Sure there is a pot of gold to be found but it’s not going to jump into your lap, it’s going to take hard work and a good map to find it.

In theory I don’t think business and entrepreneurship on the web is any different than the traditional form of business you might be used to. Sure the avenues through which you foster and realize success may behave in a drastically different way, the tactics are not what you are used to, but the principles by which you succeed remain relatively unchanged. If you are willing to adapt. It is going to take hard work, dedication, and a good plan. Just like you had to learn how to market your business through traditional avenues you will again need to learn to market your business through the rapidly changing avenues that make up the world wide web.

The amount of cash need to fund this start up may seem minute in comparison to what you may have doled out to start something similar brick and mortar style, but the building of the business is the same none the less. You wouldn’t close up shop at the first sign of trouble on the outside, you can’t be so quick to close up shop in the inside.

Devise a plan, put aside time and money for marketing, take time to learn the business and get all of your ducks in a row. Business is business, regardless of whether it be conducted on the internet or on the street.

One thing that I am not terribly afraid of when approaching my own business is the thought of making mistakes. In fact over the past ten years I have made mistakes in business on a fairly frequent basis, some that have certainly cost me money. Call it lack of experience but none the less it doesn’t bother me, I am ok with the thought of failure. Still to this day.

The reason I tend to be embracing of failure is because when I look back at the failures I have had, I can not think of a single instance that has not taught me something. Not a single instance that has not helped me to improve the next time around.

In all honesty I would say that I have learned more from a single failure than I have from a handful of successful attempts. If you are not experiencing failure, no matter how minute, then you are not pushing yourself to take the necessary risks. It is the necessary risks that will help you to move forward and take the next step.

Sure you would rather not make it habit to consistently fail in what you do. You would prefer that the success far out weight the failure, but learn to embrace the times you do make mistakes. Don’t give up because there is one bump in the road. Take that bump and learn to mold it into something more useful for the future.

Failure can be harnessed as a lesson which in turn teaches you how to do it right the next time around. Failure shapes a better product and a better business.

To start I am guilty of this myself. Back when I started my graphic apparel business some 4.5 years ago I tried to jump in every direction I possibly could. I thought I could tackle all of the trends, incorporate all of the latest technologies and take on the big guns from the starting gate. Wow, what was I thinking.

The problem here was that I tried to take on too much at once. I started with what I thought to be a pretty unique idea. Although I was not necessarily the first one on the scene with the idea, I did seem to recognize something early on. It would soon be apparent that many of the larger companies in this space had been working on similar ideas.

What did I do wrong? I failed to focus my efforts on that one thing. I let the trends around me dictate what I did. I ended up trying to stretch in too many different directions and please too many audiences with barely the resources to please one.

Maintaining focus may or may not have allowed the business to eventually realize success, however it would have given me a better chance.

How does this relate to what I do now and ultimately what you may be planning to do?

I see it often in working with businesses and building out their web presence. Whether it be chasing trends that may not fit the audience or having no clear cut path to their objectives, they are struggling to maintain focus on what they set out to do in the first place.

The point is, if you are starting small or from scratch as we like to call it, focus on doing one thing and doing it very well. Maintain your view of the bigger picture (your ultimate objective) but start at point A and work your way up.

Whether it be a tangible product, a killer service or a content driven website, focus on building it right expand when the timing is right. Create a strong foundation and you will have a better chance of weathering the storm ahead.

I was having a peaceful moment earlier this afternoon, watching a deer graze in the field and I started thinking about the decisions I have made in the past ten years and how I got where I am.

It was interesting to me to remember how many of those decisions have been rather split second. I more or less had a vision of what I wanted to be doing, believed I could do it and went for it. Sure I put thought into what making those decisions would mean and how they would effect my life, but in doing so I realized that we tend to over analyze. We start out having faith in our ability to accomplish something and then go about breaking it down until we talk ourselves out of it and instead pursue the safer, less passionate route.

In doing this we end up hurting ourselves in the long run. We hinder our ability to grow and ultimately end up becoming more fulfilled in our lives, careers, hobbies, whatever the case may be.

Not ever choice you make our opportunity you decide to pursue is going to result in the pot of gold that you envisioned, but if you fail to pursue the chance you can never learn from the hardships, the failures and the mistakes. The things that truly teach you what you are capable of and will ultimately help you to succeed in the long run.

Making the decision to join the military before an inevitable war and choosing to go with a highly deployable unit that often times finds itself in the middle of some of the most dangerous situations could have ended badly. The experience is something that I will never forget and would never trade for anything.

Creating a product in one of the tougher markets out there, dumping a lot of hard earned money into to it and watching it fail miserably can certainly set you back a bit. It is also something that I do not regret, the amount that I learned about business during this time is not something you can pay to learn in school.

Jumping out on my own instead of choosing the safer more secure path of full time employment when I had a child on the way was thought to be stupid and possibly even irrisponsible. I had faith in my ability to succeed and asked that others give me a chance to prove that. I have not taken a look backward.

Sometimes it is extremely hard to talk yourself up instead of down and away. Coming up with the idea is only half the battle, convincing yourself to take action is when it counts. Don’t be afraid to take the leap and pursue your passion, even if it means hardship you will come out ahead in the long run if only you learn from the experience.

It’s a bit slow in the making but the plan is to cover everything from making the break from employment to completing the first gig you land (and all that falls between). I hope to cover some ideas on marketing, working with clients, proposals and contracts etc etc.

Yes of course this will be geared somewhat at the freelance designer/web developer, but I am hoping to be a bit general in covering these topics. I hope that it might apply and be quite interesting to anyone planning to break off from that day to day and step out on their own.

Feel free to go check it out, starting with the announcement The Pitfalls of Freelancing: A Year In Review

Without really getting into the back story as you can read about that in depth elsewhere, here is a quick glimps. I am basically at the point where I feel I need to make a decision. The decision being that I either A. continue to go with what seems to be working (that is freelancing) or B. toss out that type of thinking to realize my true vision for where this business will go. With the awful state of the economy you might think I am best to stay where I am at (comfortable income), wheathering the storm and saving my idea of granduer for another day. And that is why I am confidently betting on my plan, while most spend their time thinking aobut recession I envision expansion.

The Build

Having a few failures as an entreprenuer under my built I am finally starting to recognize the importance of the build. The build is the foundation, it is your first day of business, it is your daily operations and it is where your business will be ten years down the road. It comes in the form of vision and it comes in the form of extensive documentation, but it is necessary.

Example 1
Some months ago I recognized the impending failure of my at the time , current employer. Failure not as a business but as a company able to keep me on the payroll long term. When I recognized the future I started planning for it. For me it was as simple as getting the name out there, starting a blog, joining the social community. Advertising in small chunks and securing a small customer base to build off. When the day came, I gave myself two weeks to start generating income as a freelancer. At the end of those two weeks if it didn’t look promising it meant searching out new employment. Two weeks! That’s not nearly enough time to recognize anything substantial, but it worked, the build that had led up to that day paid off and I have not had the time to look back since.

Whether it be vision or a 50 page document, formulate a plan and start building a foundation. Now make it happen, execute. Yes you are crazy but you are also confident in your plan. If I would have listened to everybody else’s opinion when the day came that I found myself unemployed I would be still be wondering what if, not to mention sitting in yet another job with an uncertain future. Fortunately for me I was confident in the foundation I had put down in preparation for building.

Forward

When I saw the opportunity I moved on it, I went forward. Again I was confident that I had built a sturdy foundation and I was not willing to listen to “the others”. I did so without questioning failure, in fact it never even crossed my mind that I would fail. You need to go forward positively and with confidence. Now here’s the key to why I am once again at a crossroads faced with the question of which way I would like to go next. While I was enjoying my newfound career as a freelancer, plenty of jobs, good money etc, I did not lose site of vision. I continued the building phase, one foundation on top another setting my self up for the next step. The 110th floor can not exist without the 109 floors below it correct?

Fast

Remember foundation, fast does not mean skimp and skip, it means to act on opportunity when it presents itself. Waiting around to see what the other guy is gonna do will lead you to one conclusion, he acted before you did, period. Opportunity waits for no one. It’s comes, it goes and it’s gone.

As long as you have given attention to detail in building your foundation the next move can be made quickly when the opportunity arrives. There is always time to revisit the floor below to tweak the lighting or add an espresso machine.

Next Post: “A Plan in Action – Moving Forward” Coming Soon…

First let me paint you a very brief picture of why I am looking to sting together various forms of passive income. One, creating a stream of income that requires very little in the way “grunt work” after the initial development seems like a pretty good deal. Two, and more importantly I see it as a way to work into my business and business plan an added security feature. A stream of passive income will allow me to balance out some of the ups and downs that one might expect to experience when expanding a business. And lastly, if all goes well it will allow me to build a cash reserve, which will in turn eleviate some of the stress of finding the next job and allow me to remain passionate about design and development instead of turning this into another 9 to 5 grind.

Now on to the good stuff…

The first of several options I am exploring is well placed ads and affiliate programs. You will notice that nestled at the bottom end of the sidebar, there are several ad spots. The first group of ads is the old reliable of the bunch, google adwords. These have been in place for quite some time but I have never really noticed anything significant because I just don’t have the traffic required to produce. This is all changing, I am now set on developing a significant following for this blog, so I will leave them in place and track the results. If for some reason they remain stagnant I will chalk it up as experience and move on no harm done. The second set of ads are of my own choosing. I personally have used or worked with each one of these products and I know that they are well developed and realiable. I would not promote them if I felt otherwise. Why you might ask would I promote a product that might directly interfere with my own business? I know that not everyone out there is seeking my help as a WordPress designer/developer, many of you reading this blog just want a nice quick and easy solution that will jump start your blog. The themes and theme clubs listed here can give you that, they are some of the most well developed that I have worked with and I would recommend them to anyone that fits the category just described, so enjoy. The top two are products that I myself find useful for increasing productivity and a happier workflow.

So that’s that, part one, the reveal of my first step in creating a passive income. Check back mid November for the initial results and more importantly start developing your own strategy for a passive wealth.

Stay tuned for Part II

“I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts.” – John D. Rockefeller

The plan. I have broken my plan down into a series of steps spanning the next several months and allowing me to make the transition from lone ranger to entrepreneur. Although it does not look to be an easy task, I believe the payoff will be well worth the effort.

Step 1 Continue putting long hours and taking on a substantial number of projects that will not only allow me to generate enough to “pay the bills”, but allow me to start creating cash reserves for the business. These cash reserves will be necessary when it comes time to expand. (For more on the expansion and why it is necessary keep reading.)

Step 2 – Step two coinsides with Step 1, while I continue to work overtime stocking away cash reserves, I also need to concentrate on further development of the key phases of the plan. Better put, I need to chart the course by developing a rock solid business plan.

Step 3 – Organizing the business as if it where bigger than it is. I need organization, the organization needs to allow for expansion. Whether it means stronger project management, better client communication or more productive workflow; it needs to happen. This step might mean implementing tools that can manage and handle a far bigger workflow than is currently necessary, but having them in place from the get go will allow for a smooth transition.

Step 4 – The Search for a more passive income and the ever expanding product line. The work is there, if it weren’t then looking to expand the business would be a silly pipe dream, but what is to happen if the work dries up for a month or two? Now you are caught sitting behind a nice big desk, starring at a couple of employees that sit idley while you try to figure out how you will write there next paycheck. This is where the passive income and expanding product line comes into play. Bottom line is, it is always nice to have a back up plan especially durring the turbulent times of our current economy. I have heard the phrase time and again, “don’t put all of your eggs in one basket”. (Step 4 will actually become a seperate article entitled “Moving Laterally – The Search for Passive Income” coming soon.)

Step 5 – Cross the t’s and dot the i’s it is time to put the plan into execution. Slowly I have fastened a plan to make the transition from self-employed to entrepreneur and not the day is upon me to put the plan into motion.

If you are interested in following this transition please check back often for contiuous updates and if you just don’t have the time to get here every day then tap that little black icon in the upper right and have it fed to you daily.