Going Out on Your Own

[Sean_A]

sorry for a really stupid question, but do you GCAs get paid when your hand over the design drawings or after the holes are in the ground?

Tom mentioned that the client seems to have all the power in this process and that the GCA better not chose to use his rightful legal recourse...which is not the same in other lines of business.  Seems like you could discount your fees a little but demand payment in full when the plans are delivered, provided that your own firm isn't in charge of construction.

Chip

In my business its not so different.  The customer is the king and it would be a truly rare occasion where I would sue a customer for non-payment.  I need all my customers for future business!  The only way I would sue is if I could see that I wasn't gonna get more business from that customer or he was significantly more of a pain in the ass so as to cause me problems meeting the demands of other customers.  Yes, I have been stiffed and once for a significant amount of money.  That company went bankrupt immediately after receiving a large shipment of goods then re-opened in Holland a few months later selling my product.  Yes of course, a liquidator is handing the case (for 15 years now!).  Two things are for sure, if I eventually see 40p on the pound I will be amazed and once the liquidator is called in he is the only one who makes out.  Bottom line is I HAVE TO TRUST MY CUSTOMERS or there is no point being in business.

Ciao

[Jeff_Brauer]

I find one of the tougher aspects is all the effort that doesn't help get work.
I could think of 100 different things to do tomorrow and I don't have the perspective to know which one would be the best investment.
Almost none of the 100 things have a direct correlation to new work.

The varied ways Jeff got his initial projects is telling -- if he knew for sure that sleeping at his desk would help him get more work, he'd probably do it a lot more.

Yeah, I will be 55 next month and on many days, I think about give the old "sales nap" a try right around 2PM or so, depending on how big lunch was.....

As far as Asia, my "problem" is two fold - a few years ago when it made sense to invest marketing dollars, my money was tied up in a divorce. I am not sure the market isn't slowing down enough there to invest now and I feel like I would be behind the 8 ball.  Also, the jobs I got over there weren't much different than the ones I get here - you got to know the right people and submitting for RFQ's is a low return proposition.

Like Mike says, I have tried the job lead services, advertising, etc. and they just don't seem to signifigantly raise the prospects over just referrals calling you.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Hate to get political, but being in your own small biz I usually get pissed at any Dems SOU address. 

I think all of us have in small biz have had the experience of having nearly all of our meager profits wiped out by taxes. In many years, it took everything I had in the bank to pay the biz tax and then I have to hear the Dems compare me to Rockefellers and call me greedy, etc.  Like a bad maseuse, that rubs me the wrong way!

I rented a spare office to an architect friend of mine who thought he was doing prett well in his first year until he realized he had not paid his quarterly taxes and it drove him broke.  Not blaming the guv for that one, but some days it does seem like you are just working to pay taxes.

You do learn over a few years in the school of Taxes how to pay out everything and not retain too much in profits.  Of course, this year, I don't expect to have to do anything special to keep profits down.......

There are many million small businesses in the U.S., I've been at it since 1979, and taxes have gone up and down under both Democrats and Republicans.   

There would never be all these companies if taxes were so bad.

http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/smallbus.html

[Jeff_Brauer]

Jim,

Not complaining about taxes. Complaining about how both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama categorize we small businesspeople as evil doers to tap into populist sentiment.  Given how important small biz is to this country, and of course, even large biz, I just don't like their tone. Tax us because you need to go where the money is, just don't put us down if you've never had to make a payroll.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Jeff,
I have a totally different outlook than you after 31 years in business. I've never heard or seen small business characterized in the way you suggest.   

The people I've seen fail in business did so because they didn't have a big enough poke to start out, or tried to grow too big too fast (or from thinking that "The Scotch Tape Boutique was actually a good idea).   

[Jeff_Brauer]

Jim,

No problems accepting the facts that most business failures are self inflicted and from not having enough cash to start.  Perhaps I am sensitive about it but there is no question in my mind that Dems like to bash business in a broad brush, at least the ultra libs.  (And Republicans like to bash unwed moms or whoever else they feel can tap into the current angry voter sentiment at the time)  Just like no one likes to pay taxes (don't tax you, don't tax me, lets tax the guy behind the tree.....) no one likes it when they get called out as the problem. Hey, we are all struggling.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Jeff,
You're right, a lot of folks are struggling.

Me, I'd like to be paying a couple of million in taxes come April 15th, how about you? 
 

[Tom_Doak]

Jeff:

I've always been an S corporation so I never really worried about "business taxes", and I've been paying everybody's health insurance for some time already.  I sure didn't hear anything in the State of the Union that made me think I was being vilified.

The one thing that IS compounding the difficulties of business now is that all the individual states, being broke, are chasing after any "foreign corporation" and trying to make us withhold for payroll and pay business taxes in every state we work in.  Last year, I worked in 15 states (plus three foreign countries), and if the attitude persists, it will be a gigantic pain in the ass for anyone involved in interstate commerce.

The ridiculous part is that most states exempt businesses making less than $100,000 from much in the way of business taxes ... so instead of me paying taxes on a bunch of income to Michigan, they make me break it down ten different ways, none of the states get very much at all, and my accountant is the one who comes out ahead.  [Not that I mind, I'd rather pay her than the State of Michigan or Montana anyway.]

This is the one problem you don't hear about very much from the Republicans who are touting limited government.  That, and the fact that none of the states can come close to balancing their own budgets, either.

[Mike Policano]

Tom,

I had my own business for while.  It was a professional services firm that, like you, performed services in various states and countries even though we only had one office.  Our tax return kept growing every year with filings in various states.  And of course, we never got full credit for taxes paid in other jurisdictions.

What some states have been doing for the past several years, is to charge sales tax on certain professional services, not to mention golf club dues.  If professional golf architect fees are considered subject to sales tax, then golf architects would have to charge and remit sales taxes to the applicable states like golf clubs have had to do.  We had to detail this in our contracts so we could charge the client appropriately and remit to the applicable state. 

For those thinking of going out on their own, a competent accountant and attorney are required upfront in the planning and execution of starting their own firm.  It can be a lot of fun and very rewarding, but plan the details before you start or it will be frustrating and costly.

DISCLAIMER  I am not a tax accountant. I really don't know anything about taxes or many other subjects.  Accordingly, nothing here should be construed as tax or legal advice and should not be accepted as accurate or complete. As always, one should consult their own competent tax and legal advisors.

[George Pazin]

1.   The toughest part about going on your own is simply bringing in enough work.

This is the toughest thing about damn near every business on the face of the earth.

And the payment from clients issue is something that people who have never been self-employed aren't likely to understand. The simple question is always, why didn't you get paid up front? Yeah, that's the solution, if only I had thought of that...

As for politicians, people hear what they want to hear. If you're a fan, you filter it one way, if you're not, you filter it another. One of my most enduring experiences of being self-employed for almost 20 years now is that almost everything that comes out of any sort of prospective client info is completely subjective. I am terrible at reading people, but fortunately for me my business partner isn't.

In the end, you only go the entrepreneur route if you are the type who just doesn't listen to other people...

Nothing I'd like more than to be able to line up some work for my architect friends on here. I do recommend them when I talk to people I think might be interested in their services, but unfortunately my words don't hold a lot of weight.