TheJoey.Net

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!

Update:

Special thanks to Bring Back the Stache! and Consumer Whore for the links. Much Appreciated.

posted on August 6th, 2008 in Business, News, Websites| No Comments »

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.

posted on July 30th, 2008 in Business, Thoughts| | show comments » « hide comments

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.

posted on June 30th, 2008 in Business| No Comments »

Email correspondence is my normal and most practiced form of communication because of the convenience for both parties. It allows you to quickly send a message to someone and know (in most cases) they will get it the next time they check their inbox. I feel it’s also better than instant messaging or phone conversations in some instances because it allows me to think about what I want to say. However, with the amount of emailing I do, I notice many people don’t know how to write what I deem a proper email.

Since I am a TA, I get a lot of emails from students like this:

Hey do u take off for late assignments

This is sometimes forgivable as it’s mostly freshmen who are relatively new to email as the defacto form of communication. I am sure when I was a freshman my emails weren’t up to my own current standards. However, even dealing with clients I get some of those emails that come off as less than professional. Using SMS shorthand or incorrect punctuation, spelling errors, etc. are some of the problems I run into. Here is an example of what I would say is a proper email:

Joe,
I hope all is well. I was wondering if you took off for late assignments.

Thanks,
Jim Student

The later email includes some important details the sooner email lacked. Here are some ground rules for a good email:

• Address/Greet the person you are writing. It looks better and it ensure you know who are you contacting. The greeting might not be necessary, but it shows you care at least a little.
• Use proper grammar. This isn’t instant messenger and your emails will be read more carefully. You don’t want to be judged on simple grammatical errors. Also, use real words- not shorthand. “U” instead of “you” might be ok for texting or IMing, but it’s not for email.
• Spell check! I’ve been guilty of this from time to time, but now that most browsers have spell check built in, there is really no excuse. This goes along the same lines as grammar checking- and this is much easier to avoid.
• Sign your name. Let the person you are contacting know who is emailing him. Usually for the first email I will also include my last name, and then drop it in any replies. This one drives me crazy because, especially with my students, I deal with a lot of people and don’t always recognize the email address.

These four simple checks will make for an infinitely better, more professional looking email which in turn reflects better on you. Did I leave anything out? Disagree with me? Let me know in the comments.

posted on March 26th, 2008 in Business, Thoughts| | show comments » « hide comments

If you are anything like me, you are always connected to the Internet in some fashion. I have 2 laptops, a desktop, a blackberry and most recently, an iPod Touch (more on that later). Because of this, I get my email right when it’s sent to me unless I’m asleep or without my phone(which is veryrare). I am always tempted to respond right away, just as I do with text or instant messaging. It’s all instant for me. However, I realized it might not be best to respond to an email (specifically a client email) right away.

I know some might think the sooner the better, however immediate response can have some negative effects. First, it’s important to know that most people are not like me- they aren’t always connected. They check their email at most hourly. So it’s a safe bet that they won’t be checking their email for your response right when they email you. Unless of course, you set a precedent.

If you do respond right away, people will expect you to all the time. With my clients for example, if I consistently respond immediately, they will expect it. If you make it seem like you’re always available, people think you are, and that can really eat into any free time you try to set aside. I had a client who called me at all hours because I made it seem like I was always available. I had to explain to her that calling me at, for example, 1AM was unacceptable. But I was always there for immediate response. Besides that, it’s always helpful to put some thought into what you’re going to write back.

Immediate response doesn’t allow you to think about what you write- it’s just what first comes to mind. For a quick note to a friend or a thank you email that might be fine, but in a professional relationship it looks bad. At the very least take some time to think about what you want to say and word it correctly. That extra time from when they email you and then hear back will show them you actually put some thought into what you want to say.

As for me, I should heed my own advice. I have been trying the last few weeks and have already seen a difference as far as what’s expected of me goes. Now let’s see if I can maybe check me email less often…

posted on March 20th, 2008 in Business, Thoughts| No Comments »