TheJoey.Net is the weblog of Joe Casabona, a web developer who attends the University of Scranton, now for Graduate Studies. He is real bad at writing these about pages and hates writing in the 3rd person...more
**The layout is new and there might be some bugs. If you see any, please email me at Joe@Casabona.org
Freelance Switch wrote on this a while back, but this summer it’s been a goal of mine. Since my junior year of college, I’ve freelanced every long break in lieu of getting a ‘real’ (read: 9-5) job, but have stuck strictly to contract jobs and what amounted to (in most cases) one time shots. I’ve always had a bunch of side projects bouncing around in my head or ones I half-started but never capitalized on. I even created a couple of small Facebook apps that I never made an effort to make money with. This summer I launching several side projects in hopes that one succeeds and does well. I’ve also got an ace in the hole. But why put the time and effort into it?
Well, Freelance Switch also wrote about that a few days ago. The main reason for me is security. I want to know that if there are lulls in work, I am still making money. This summer I got a lot of leads that never amount to anything, and that was incredibly stressful. I am on my last leg of my college career and before expenses really start piling on, I want to invest some money in IRAs and other long term savings accounts but can’t do that if I’m not making the money. Of course, now with school starting I run the risk of any or all of those leads following up. And, to put it bluntly…
I want to be able to say no to work and still have cash flow. This year is going to be particularly busy and I won’t sacrifice school for some short-term cash. Knowing I don’t have to is a big comfort. Aside from the money though, it’s really cool to know I made something people use regularly; and it’s that satisfaction that tells me I got into the right industry.
So how would one go about doing this? Well, I have a couple of side projects I’ve launched: 101-Things and YouWouldntGetIt.Com, as well as one that will be relaunched soon. Apart from those, I am getting into hosting resale. Hosting goes hand-in-hand with web design, so it makes sense for me to offer both services to my clients. What you do is up to you, but as a freelancer it’s important that you do it.
My summer was an eye opener for this stuff, and it’s a real turning point in my career. By increasing revenue streams we are opening up a lot of doors for ourselves- we just need the will do to it. Feel free to plug your side projects (and maybe throw in a thought or two) in the comments.
I’m a little bit surprised I haven’t written about Amazon Mp3 before as I use it quite frequently. My main grip about services like iTunes, the Zune Marketplace, Napster, Ruckus, and nearly every other digital music outlet is that their songs are protected by some form of Digital Rights Management (DRM). You can only transfer them x number of times. You need a username and password to listen to them, or in the case of Ruckus, download for free (as a college student), but only listen to them on your computer. Yes, there was EMusic, but last time I checked their collect was not as diverse as I would have liked. But Amazon Mp3 changes all of that.
Amazon Mp3 offers a full line of music, underground and mainstream, completely DRM-free. It doesn’t expire, there isn’t a set number of transfers, play it on any Mp3 player as much as you’d like. This is the way digital music should be. If I have a CD, I can rip that onto my computer and do with it what I want. Why shouldn’t digital music be the same. But beyond that, their deals are amazing.
Amazon Mp3 offers two types of deals I use regularly (and use twitter to follow): Daily deals, where for a day they will sell a digital CD significantly cheaper (like $2 or 3) and Friday 5, where from Friday until Monday, they pick 5 albums to sell for $5 a pop. Plus, setup couldn’t be easier. Install their downloader, which links to your favorite music player, and when you download mp3s, they automatically get added to your music collection.
I really feel Amazon got digital music right. Freedom, easy of use, and low cost is everything I was looking for. If any online service will get me to stop buying CDs, it’s this one.
It was in October of last year that I went to a couple of my friends and mentioned to them that I wanted to start a t-shirt company. I felt I had a couple of good ideas and enough business know-how to do it. They were the creative ones that could be the personality of the company.
Then nothing happened for a while. We kept track of ideas, but nothing more than that. Finally in February, we put out our first product for Scranton’s widely celebrated Parade Day. We did pretty well, especially considering the competition. But then we all got busy and put pursuing anything further off. Until now.
We decided to finally launch a site with some flagship designs, which you can find here. The site has been what I’m calling ’soft launched,’ which I guess you can equate to a beta. But everything, as far as I know, is working. You can order shirts! Now it’s time to promote and generate enough cash to pursue some other designs we’ve come up with.
If you’d like to help out, you can find all kinds of stuff on our Promote page. And as always, any feedback is welcomed. Since this is probably the most involved site I’ve done, I’ll be doing a write up of the design/programming in a later post. For now, let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best!
On a final note, we also want our company to be the middleman between people who want shirts and people who print shirts. So if you want to have shirts done, please fill out this form. We will do the artwork, and take care of ordering. We can also work something out for distributing if you’d like. Just let us know!
During the school year, I was very busy. Between running the business, TAing, and well, actual classes, there wasn’t a lot of free time. But I made due. I worked on weekends but made sure to take time for myself. I thought things would slow down a bit in the summer. No classes to teach or attend- just the business. But as it turns out, I am one of those people who always needs to be busy.
Even with a lull in work (up until yesterday things were pretty slow), I was doing work every day. I am launching a t-shirt company with my friends (more on that later). I am launching a new blog (announcement Friday). I came up with a new gimmick to make money. I’ve realized my mind is constantly going. Even on the days I say I’m not going to work, I do work. When I am away from my computer, it’s usually because I make work related trips. When I am in front of my computer, I work as much as I can.
Don’t get me wrong, I do take time to myself. I hang out with friends and go out once in a while. But the last time I took a full day off- no work at all - was…well I can’t even remember. Even when I went to see Rush a few weeks ago, I was discussing a website for my friend’s dad. I was calling my t-shirt printer to make sure things were set with our first batch of shirts. He said they were. They weren’t. And I was thinking about a lot of things related to work. But this realization brings me to a serious problem. I don’t know if I can take one full day off.
Even when I’m not working I’m scheming. I’m thinking of my next big thing, or how to get more clients. Or how to make money while doing little work. I’m constantly checking email. When I take a normal work break, it usually consists of surfing the net for new things.
So, why did I write this post? Oh I don’t know. To warn people thinking about freelancing to not be like me? Not really. Mostly to get it off my chest. I think I should make it a goal of mine to take one day a week to do no work. That will be a challenge though. You see to me, some work is also play.
It was about 10 years ago that I first said I wanted to start my own business. By the ripe old age of 15, I got my first client for a website and have been freelancing ever since. Today I made it official in New York State by filing a “Doing Business As” (DBA) form. As a sole proprietor, you claim all income on your your standard tax form, doing business as yourself (accepting payments, opening bank accounts, etc.) A DBA allows you to be a sole proprietor under a business name. There, of course, are many other reasons for a DBA, but that was my main focus. Here I am going to tell you how go through this fairly simple (and low cost) process in the state of New York (but I will assume it’s similar in other states).
First, you need a business certificate (the DBA form). I got mine at a local office supplies store (which apparently carry them), but if you are in the Tri-State area, you can go to Blumberg Legal Forms, where you will find a number of legal forms that might come in handy, including your DBA Form, in PDF format, which you can purchase it from the site. It looks like according to the site, it’s $9.00. I got mine for $2.60 from the office supplies store.
After filling it in (you can see an ‘example’ here), take it to your local government building to file it. You will first have to get it notarized, which they did for me for free. You might need a photo ID. After that, file it with the county clerk. That costs $25 + $5 if you want a certified copy, which you do. And that’s it! Fairly easy for a government process I’d say. They will give you a nice little packet that talks all about your federal tax duties, which I suppose are pretty important.
If I could offer some tips:
Pick a unique name. You can’t incorporate if another corporation with the same name exists in your state. So in the interest of keeping your name if you ever do decide to incorporate, make sure it’s not taken.
Talk to an accountant. It’s a little different as a small business/self-employed person filing taxes. Crunch some numbers, figure out how often to pay taxes to the state and fed, and SAVE MONEY to do so. It looks like I’ll be paying about 15.3% on all income. I know to put that away in a bank account. Speaking off…
This one should be a no-brainer, but open up a bank account under your new business name. To do so, you should only need the business certificate and your SSN. Also, shop around for a good account based on your needs. I know my bank offers free business checking. This will also help keep all of your income and expenses a little easier to manage. Use checks or a check card for that account when you can. And remember, you can write off a lot more than you think.
So today I officially fulfilled my goal of becoming a business owner by filling out a DBA. It will be a little more work now on my end because I’d like to make this my full time shtick right out of college, but I think I’m up for the challenge.
