Starting Out

[Chiron]

Hello all, I'm new to the board but thought that I'd go ahead throw out some questions that I had.

It might be good to give some background information before I throw my questions out there though. I recently moved back in with my parents so that I could save some money for a down payment on a house. So I don't really have a whole lot of expenses especially seeing as how I don't have a significant other at the moment. So I have a decent amount of time to put towards my goals. However, the work I do is not conducive to remote work on a routine basis nor is management really willing to entertain the idea (I've tried the discussions and such, no go). Which is fine by me as my ultimate goal is to be independent financially of the standard work arrangement. Basically I think that my life situation will never be better to start down this road.

I think the first step for me would be to set up some form of income which Tim calls a muse. Cool, but where should I start? Should I try to find a product first or should I look to forming an LLC and get a vendors license first? I'm just assuming I need a vendor's license, but is that a false assumption? Can anyone give any guidance on this? I have heard that it's best to form a corporation in a certain state, but I'm not sure if that's true or not or even which state that would be in.

Long post (sorry!) short, I'm just in need of some direction or maybe just a good swift kick in the pants. Any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated from the community on the board. Thanks!

[Vince]

Two things:

Polonius was a fool.
The best way to find a "muse" is to start with what you are already knowledgeable about and focus on something you can sell.


In fact, creating an information product is often the best way to go. By supplying information on a subject that people are already buying, you eliminate much of the risk of failing due to lack of interest.

HTH

[Chiron]

Vince:

1. Whether or not Polonius was a fool depends on which facet of the character you are referring to and can be debated elsewhere. I think we can agree to disagree on this non-relevant point. :)

2. I have done a good bit of research into the markets where I am knowledgeable (networking and security arenas) and have found them to be completely saturated. While those areas are broad, even the tiniest subset of those target areas are saturated and well established or changes so rapidly that an informational product would be out of date within weeks or months of hitting the market. I will continue looking into the informational product while looking towards a physical item to ensure that I consider all of my options.

3. I'm not exactly certain what route to take as for legal organization (LLC, rules, regs & such) I will be calling and setting up an appointment with the Small Business Administration's local office to see if I can't get any clarification here. Do you have any thoughts or experience with this particular area?

[searstower]

Chiron,

LLC's are quite useful, but an S corp works better for some people. Basically, the S corp reduces some of the strain of double taxation. The downside to an S Corp is that they are more expensive to set up and maintain, but if you are looking to make more than $100,000, it should still work out better.

You asked what state was most beneficial to set up your LLC in. Most people recommend Nevada, but Wyoming is becoming the new favorite since Nevada is changing some of it's laws. In order to have your LLC set up in one of these states, you need to have an office there. There are people you can outsource this to though.

I have an LLC, soon to be S Corp, selling website services and I do not have a vendor license. I'm not sure who needs a vendor license, but I know I don't.

As for your muse, if you think security is a saturated market, then think about what other things you buy and what other markets you are part of.

Do you mountain bike frequently? If so, what information product would you buy regarding mountain biking? "How to fix a flat with no tools, no spares and no patch kit?" "A full 5 day mountain biking menu plan, complete with recipes, nutritional information and shopping list"

Do you use a Mac? Are you a fan of a particular brand of car? What is your favorite tech toy and your top 3 secrets to use it more effeciently?

Review that part in the book as there is a lot of good stuff. Hope that enough to get you started!
Rebecca

[Chiron]

Thanks for the input on the LLC and S Corp questions Rebecca. I appreciate it. I think that at this point I'm going to go the LLC route then if need be later on move everything over to an S Corp.

As for a muse, I sat down and brainstormed up a couple. I have noticed that "cutthroat" razors are making a come back in Europe, but haven't quite caught on here in the states just yet. Although, I think they will. I also think that the niche market for them would be the crafty/ecologicaly aware group of people since they're not disposable, last longer, better shave, cheaper over the long run, etc. This is one of the two ideas I'm going to put some money and effort into exploring. So thats on the list of things I can do while waiting on LLC paperwork and etc.

The other muse if more geared towards hardware hackers/hobbyists/security professionals. I know that lots of people love the Linksys and D-link wifi accesspoints because they can be hacked and used for other things. But if people could buy the hardware and not have to modify them to get them to do what they want, then that would be worth something. They become a lot more versatile and the market widens quite a bit. I know people that buy them for a ton of money just to bust them apart and modify them so they can put them in amateur rockets or for testing their own network security and such things. This I think would also be another good muse to research while waiting for paperwork. While this muse is more complex, it also has a lot more potential. Which to me suggests that for my inital muse that I should concentrate more on the first idea.

Now to start a blog or something to document all of this from the get go! :)

[Christoph]

My pointless input:

I'm 23 and started using the 'cutthroat' razors, and DE ones of yesteryear very recently. Shave for shave, they are cheaper, cleaner, and sharper. If you get involved, I think there is definitely a niche for wetshavers to have a 'improved' product. Hell, I can already think of some...!

[crowsnatcher]

You might start by not calling them "cutthroat" razors. I'd personally be more inclined to buy one if the product were more associated with grandpa's barbershop and less with cable TV slasher flicks.

[darrin365]

Depends on your audience. If you advertise to tough biker dudes, "cutthroat" razors may be an attractive term. For the metro-sexual sect, it would be "environmentally-friendly, financially-sensible, closer & smoother than a conventional shave" razor. :)

It's all in who you're talking to.

Darrin

[dmaloy]

Read "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" by Peter Drucker.
Or, you can "get" the audio book.
He specifically talks about examples and categories of finding innovative products within various industries.
Too bad he doesn't focus more on services, though. That's where I'm at. How can I automate an innovative service?

I'm finding all this useful.
Thanks to all.