Today, I’m going to talk about owning a business, which, when exploited properly, can aid and abet the party.
For about three years, I ran a business where I built and repaired guitars for hobbyists and performing musicians. It was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.
Thinking about running your own business? Here are a handful of tricks and tips that will help you stay motivated by day and forget-your-name drunk by night.
First things first: when you are the sole proprietor, you adopt a whole caveat of responsibility. There’s marketing, networking, accounting, and customer service, and on top of all that you still have to do the goddamn grunt work. Sure, your boss lets you cut work early, but there is work to be done and rent to be paid, so focus! The secret is to make the boring stuff fun. Are you aware of how flexible tax write-offs are? I was once high as gas prices hanging out with friends and wrote off $60 worth of donuts because I handed everyone a business card. Networking. What did my accountant say come tax season? “Why didn’t you write off the coffee?” Want to see a band perform at Logan’s next week? No problem. Talk to the band about how to improve the quality of their sound by switching to 10-gauge strings. Bam, write off the tickets.
When you start a business from scratch, you start at the bottom, a very small fish in a big, and substantially well-oiled, machine. Pond. Whatever. So when the tide starts to rise and throws you ashore, get creative!
Halfway through the duration of my “career” I was forced to change my business’ name. It turns out a medium-sized fish had the name first and was threatened by my substantial customer base of six people. I lost just shy of $1,000 of merchandise and brand equity. What do you do? Call all the suppliers before switching to your way cooler name, and when they don’t question if you’re “that” company, offset your losses in slashed prices in the name of repeat business.
I had a hell of a lot of fun and met some interesting people, but, in all honesty, you shouldn’t listen to me: I don’t run this business anymore, and you can probably guess why.