Hello... starting a business

RevolvingSheep · Joined: Mar 17, 2012 Posts: 16 Location: Kansas USA

I have posted here for a while under this handle, but I have never made an introduction. I also wish to discuss a service I am starting and I have some questions.

You can call me dm. I am a photographer, audio engineer, musician (piano/synth/vocals/lyrics), graphic and web designer, video editor... among other things. I am mostly interested in electronic music. Here is a link to some of the stuff I have been a part of recently...

http://www.soundcloud.com/sounddm

So enough about me, onto other matters...

I am wanting to start a business of sorts. I listed my skills above, and I'm wanting to start a service that combines all of my skills. I want to have a few different package deals for bands. For instance, one might only include professional photos, another might include a web page design and social networking management... and a full package might include photos, a web page, a recorded and engineered demo, graphics and logos and flyers... etc...

I have never done anything like this. I have never made money professionally off of any of my skills. I know nothing about the business side of things... or taxes... copyright... etc. I think my first step is to decide what my packages will be, and then offer them for free to a few bands I choose to build a portfolio and some references.

Any suggestions and tips for any of this, and any links or references to books or other material related to all of this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Inventor · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 3:45 pm Post subject:

I would recommend offering an initial free service to people. Since you honestly state that your business experience is limited and you are currently unsure of how to use your talents commercially, you need a proven record. If I were in your shoes, I'd contact successful bands - people like NeoRev who performs a lot in NYC and offer them a free "image" service including one poster, one business card, one album art, or whatever you want to bundle together.

This will accomplish a few things, including giving you a chance to flex your creative muscles commercially and getting you a quick boost for your name in the industry. Don't be afraid to do some album art or something for nobodies like me also.

Don't worry about taxes and all that, just save all receipts in a box or better yet a notebook with plastic categorized leaves in it. Your accountant, which you will need if you become successful, will sort it all out. If you are not successful, then you will not need the records anyway.

Now I am not one to advise on business too much however I have had a taste of it years ago and that's what I would do. Oh, and also consider doing electronic art services such as schematic to PCB for people if you can.

Les

audiodef · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 5:47 pm Post subject:

Word-of-mouth. Tell your friends and find people in your town who might be interested in your services, and offer your services on a "free initial session" basis. Let people locally get to know you. If they like your services, ask them to tell their friends. Make sure you're able to manage your client base as your business grows.

Best of luck! Cool

RevolvingSheep · Joined: Mar 17, 2012 Posts: 16 Location: Kansas USA

I could imagine eventually needing to bring in another person or two to help out. I'll definitely start by offering the packages for free. Maybe I'll choose three bands to do this for. I think my best bet is to give away the biggest package that way I can judge the max amount of time it will take me to put everything together.