Enjoy yourself. For most of the self-employed, a bad day of freelancing beats a good day in the cube farm.

 

The life cycle of a business idea can be a beautiful thing to behold. From the “Eureka!” moment when you discover what it is you want to create, to the moment you get a nice, big, fat paycheck for selling your creation, getting a home business up and running can be a wonderful, empowering experience. But if you think it’s just a matter of getting the right gear, you’re wrong. All the gear in the world won’t help you break the shackles of working for The Man if it’s used incorrectly (or costs too much). Indeed, the keys to success are the soft ingredients: the best Mac applications, the best online services, the best practices for making a go of it alone. We offer a six-page primer on establishing financial self-determination—with your trusty Mac by your side.

 

Before You Do Anything Else…

 

You should probably cross your t’s and dot your i’s by getting yourself a business license. In certain states if you’re registered as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or an S-Corp (two common ways to give some sort of corporate structure to your enterprise), your license is already taken care of. But is it necessary to have one? Well, unless your line of business requires it, like hairdressing, no. Nonetheless, it may be a good idea to incorporate. To wit:

 

1. Creditors can’t take your house when you and your entire business enterprise hit the skids. They can only sue your corporation.

 

2. Getting incorporated ($99, www.bizfilings.com), and the effort involved in doing so, might convey an image of professionalism.

 

3. Corporations can have board meetings (yawn) and the travel is tax-deductible (yeah!).

 

And if these reasons still don’t appeal to you (say, if you’re just a freelancer who bills by the hour) you can probably make do with a DBA, for Doing Business As, also known as a fictitious business name ($99, www.dbaform.com). This lets you do business under a name other than your own, allows you to open a bank account under that name, get a business phone listing, and so on.

 

All of which segues nicely into naming decisions, a trouble spot for a few reasons: You want your business name to be unique (you won’t get far, legally, using Microsoft Inc. for a name), you want it to accurately represent what it is you offer in one easily understandable package, and you don’t want it to already be in use (see: Microsoft Inc.), because that can get you sued.

 

Companies spend thousands and thousands of dollars on big brains, who are fond of word games, to spend hours and hours coming up with names that do all of the above. Our suggestion? Get 10 of your coolest friends and be prepared to have your feelings hurt a little. This is the cheap part. Finding a name on the list that hasn’t been used by anyone is the not-so-easy—and possibly costly—part. Fortunately, in the United States all of this is public record stuff and can be gleaned quite easily from a variety of Web-based sources (our personal fave: www.corporateregistrar.us). While it doesn’t cost anything to look, fees vary depending on what state you’re in to go any further
than just looking.

 

And if you find a business name that’s not being used, you probably then have a 50/50 chance that it isn’t also being used as someone’s URL. Check www.networksolutions.com or www.godaddy.com, two of the best domain checkers we’ve found, and be prepared to go back to the drawing board. All the best URLs have been taken, and so hitting on something unused your first time at bat is highly unlikely, but with some luck, pluck, and perseverance, you’ll actually be able to comfortably and easily make one of the most important decisions you will ever have to make, with a minimum of fuss.

 

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How to Pick a Good Domain Name

 

Your best bet? Choose something catchy from the get-go. Your least likely bet? Something catchy from the get-go. So in four easy pieces, here’s how to catch (or not) a catchy one.

 

1. Buy it. Premium domain name companies like Sedo (www.sedo.com), Afternic (www.afternic.com), and NameSeek (www.nameseek.com) will sell you URLs. (People profiteering off the Internet?! Say it ain’t so!) The upside is, it’s yours. The downside? It’s going to cost plenty if it’s popular, catchy, and so simple that only a million people before you have thought of it.

 

2. Punctuate your way around it—or don’t. Using hyphens, reallyreallylongrunonnames, or an extension like .tv, .us, .net, or .org can be a good way to both extend your brand and not have to pay oodles for it. However, if brevity is the spirit of wit, the same might apply to domain names. It might take a longer time to find a www.drugs.com corollary, but it’ll be well worth it when you do. Which is to say, really long, strangely punctuated URLs are a drag, and unless you’re in business to bring people down you might try to avoid the whole drag factor.

 

3. Make it up. Out of thin air. Yup. There are lots of letters in the alphabet, and we’re pretty sure www.xygomex.com isn’t being used. But good luck with an organic tea company named Xygomex.

 

4. Lay in wait for one. Many of the domain name services have features by which you can lay claim for a registered name. Then if the present owner forgets to renew, it’ll yank that name out from under them for a mere pittance. It’s not entirely unethical to exploit someone else’s inability to remember stuff like paying registration bills, but be prepared to wait a long time, even if you do go this route.

 

Profile: The Guru of Good Names

 

 

A transplant from Siragusa, Sicily, Salvatore Russo’s sideline is the name game. “I don’t know whether it was not having English as a first language that’s caused me to think about words a little differently,” says full-time sports agent Russo, “or that I’ve always had a love for languages.” But after an uninterrupted spate of picking winners for friends and associates, the idea of charging for it hit home.

 

Since then, he’s named everything from athletes (Danny Damage Marks) to record labels (Control Free Youth) to sporting-gear companies (Konjo Gear) and more. The success was so sudden that he’s only recently gotten around to hanging out a formal shingle, by way of a website. “Funny thing is,” laughs Russo, “when it came to thinking up a name for my naming business, I was stumped. Parola, the Italian word for word, was taken. So was Palabra, the Spanish word.” Having recently found a name, Russo is keeping mum and NDA-ing it until he has it registered. A good practice under any circumstance. Good ideas, and good names, are not always cheap or easy to come by.

 

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Marketing The Goods...and The Expertise

 

Now that you’ve got the idea, the legal undercarriage, and the name, how do you go about letting the world know you exist? Do you just stand in front of every trade show and hand out business cards until your hand drops off? And what about business cards, anyway? In this era of social networks and email, isn’t the lowly business card a thing of the past? Actually, they’re still relevant despite better ways of sharing contact information, because it only takes two seconds to take one and jam it into your pocket. Business cards are a good first step toward showing people you mean business.

 

Now, to make them. Sure, you can make your own business cards with an inkjet and some card stock, if you’re in a big hurry. Professionally printed cards, though, are still the best way to go, and they don’t have to be expensive. You can save money by doing your own design, using just one or two colors, and sticking with the standard size of 3.5 by 2 inches. Just about any quick-print shop like Kinko’s or AlphaGraphics can turn cards around in a day or two if you bring them a file. If you know your way around a word processor or a page-layout program, creating your own card design is easy.

 

You can get clever with size and design, but keep in mind what’s appropriate for your line of work. As long as it conveys a sense of professionalism, any business card is better than no business card. Even if design isn’t your thing, there are services and software that can help you get that professional edge you want without having to pay someone else to design your cards. For example:

 

Business Card Composer ($34.95, www.belightsoft.com) takes the guesswork out of making cards by helping you with details you might not even be aware of—like card stock and bleed. Get a quick start using built-in templates and clip art, or tap into your iPhoto library directly.

 

PrintingForLess.com is a straightforward way to print any quantity of color or black-and-white business cards for a reasonable price. Just plug in a couple numbers and you can get an immediate price quote. From there, you simply upload your business card file in a file format such as PDF or JPG, and have your cards delivered.

 

Moo.com is definitely for those looking for a way to stick out. For $19.99 you can print 100 unique 1.1-by-2.76-inch minicards. Each card can be based on individual photos or designs and include up to six lines of text.

Letting The World Know

 

No matter what field you’re in, there’s probably a professional organization that represents it. Since a rising tide lifts all boats, these groups work to promote a specific industry so you can spend your time promoting yourself. Industries from graphic design (AIGA, www.aiga.org) to engineering (NPSE, www.nspe.org) and even dog groomers (NDGAA, www.nationaldoggroomers.com) have professional associations dedicated to promoting and supporting their respective industries. Consider joining professional organizations that complement or support your industry. Some may require a membership fee, but it’s usually worth it, as it often includes resources such as a listing on their directory and access to job boards.

 

Word of mouth is also good. In fact, word of mouth is a business now. WOMMA (www.womma.org), a trade organization that promotes the art of word-of-mouth marketing, provides tips and resources on spreading your own good word around. This is genius, because there’s no better form of marketing and advertising than a good reputation. Being recommended by someone else can carry more weight than regular marketing tactics. Most small businesses will tell you that it’s the best, most effective form of promotion, and since it’s free, you can’t beat the price. As you build a great reputation for your product or service, word of mouth will generate even more positive buzz.

 

Keeping An Eye on The Time. And The Assets. And The Money.

 

Most small-business owners and freelancers have to wear many hats, but you can quickly spread yourself too thin if you make decisions that are penny-wise and pound-foolish. Fortunately, many Mac solutions out there can make both the general and specific aspects of running a business a lot easier.

 

First, you’ll need to keep track of where your time and money are going—hours and dollars slipping away here and there can add up to a decent chunk of change. A chunk of change you’ll have to pass along to a very possibly aggrieved client. Here are some ways to get things under control and keep them that way.

 

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Project Management

 

No matter how great you are at whatever you do, you need to keep your customers happy. One of the best ways to do this is to keep them informed of where things are at any given time. Yeah, yeah, there are tons of “solutions” out there, but one size doesn’t fit all. What makes sense for a small business really depends on what your company does and the complexity of the projects. Luckily, the diverse needs of small businesses and freelancers are well served by a variety of products on the Mac. In general, project management software should help you keep track of the main elements: people, time, and tasks.

 

If all you want to do is keep track of tasks on a big to-do list, try Ghost Action ($19.99, www.ghostparksoftware.com). Nifty features like two-way syncing between .Mac and iCal, group to-dos, and categorization take checklists to a whole new level.

 

OmniPlan ($149.95, www.omnigroup.com) flattens the learning curve of managing complex projects by making it easier to set up and schedule resources and tasks. It can export and import from other applications and formats such as XML, Microsoft Project, and Fast Track Schedule, so you can fit in—and stand out—even in the least Mac-friendly environments.

 

FastTrack Schedule ($349.99, www.aecsoft.com) has all of the professional features like GANTT charting (a bar chart for project scheduling), multi-views, and dependencies one would expect in project management software. Since the app (4 out of 5 stars, Feb/07, p74) comes in both Mac and Windows versions, you can exchange schedules with others without having to import and export.

 

Merlin 2 ($205, www.merlin2.net) can double as a time tracker and estimating tool. Activities from Merlin can be directly integrated into software such as Billings from Marketcircle (see: Invoicing & Accounting, below) to create invoices and estimates.

 

Invoicing and Accounting

 

In most commercial endeavors, you won’t get paid unless you submit an invoice. An invoice can be a simple document that tells the client the price and whom to pay. Invoicing, on the other hand, is an involved process. Quantities of hours, orders, or products must be tracked somehow, as well as a payment schedule.

 

If you don’t invoice a lot, you could probably get away with something as easy as typing up individual invoices using a word processing template. But once you start sending more than two or three invoices a week, consider a solution that allows for importing/exporting between your time tracking and invoicing apps so you don’t forget to follow up.

 

MacFreelance ($39.99, www.macxware.com) covers the basics for most individuals who need time tracking, invoicing, and payment tracking.

 

FreshBooks (subscriptions from $14 to $149 per month, www.freshbooks.com) is a Web-based solution for creating and sending invoices in a variety of forms such as email, URL, and regular snail mail. You can even accept payments online with PayPal or Authorize.net.

 

Billings ($59.99, www.marketcircle.com) can work as a stand-alone solution for tracking time and invoicing, but its real power is the integration with project management products such as DayLite and Merlin. The app ships with a handful of stylish and professional-looking invoices, and allows a very granular level of customization as well.

 

QuickBooks ($199.95, www.quickbooks.com). What’s a Mac business article without mentioning the industry standard? Whether you or someone else has to run the back-office operations at your place, this app handles just about all you need, from invoicing to payroll. Keep in mind, many of the add-on modules that extend QuickBooks are for Windows only. Which sucks.

 

AccountEdge ($299, www.myob-us.com) picks up where other accounting apps leave the Mac high and dry—it goes beyond basic accounting with credit card processing and direct deposit.

 

Tracking Your Time

 

Time is money if you’re in any kind of service or consulting business. When you bill your clients for time, it’s good practice to include details of how it was spent. Keep an eye on time even if you charge a flat fee or fixed bid. Down the road you can go back and look at how long it took to perform the work, which is handy for making more accurate estimates.

 

If it’s just you billing for time, you could get by with pen and paper, but once you get into billing for multiple people, projects,
and clients, you’ll want to know how things add up at any given time. Try to get all your folks to log their hours daily or as they go along, otherwise people forget—or worse, fabricate hours.

 

ClickTime ($60 startup, plus monthly fees, www.clicktime.com) is a Web-based timecard solution that lets you and your employees log time from anywhere. Corporations large and small use it, and since you pay on a per-employee basis, it has a nice entry price point.

 

Another option is Virtual TimeClock Pro ($195 single seat to $1,995 for server and unlimited clients, redcort.com), a software solution that lets employees clock in and out, change tasks, and track paid breaks. Then you can customize the time sheets and reports, and export to Microsoft Excel or CheckMark Payroll ($249, www.checkmark.com).

 

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Serving Deliverables...On A Platter

 

Even if your final product isn’t digital, such as graphics or code, you and your clients can benefit from having as much stuff online as possible. Email is still a great way to communicate, but it leaves a lot to be desired as a delivery tool. Sending attachments can create all kinds of headaches—from the files being too big, to having to resend files every time there’s a change.

 

Client extranets can save you and your customers an appreciable amount of time by providing a single entry point to things like schedules and documents. If you have a .Mac account ($99.95 per year, www.mac.com), you already have what you need to set up the simplest client page. You can save files in the “Web” folder of your iDisk and they’ll automatically be uploaded to your site at homepage.mac.com/username.

 

BaseCamp (subscriptions from $12 to $149 per month, www.basecamphq.com) has taken the Web by storm. Companies of all sizes have forgone more complicated and costly extranet solutions for this simple, elegant tool. A powerful Web-based app, BaseCamp goes beyond serving files. It takes care of one thing that is nontrivial to set up: managing user accounts and permissions. Within minutes, you can have a secure place for you and your clients to share files and project information. Brilliant.

 

8 Final Tips for Financial Independence

No matter what your business, here are some tips for managing your cash flow and staying on top of your game.

 

Don’t be shy. Talk money up front and set expectations. Most customers want to know how much things will cost before they make any decisions. Besides, everyone knows you’re in business to make money. And if you don’t bring it up, why would anyone else?

 

Get it in writing. Never work without a signed contract. It’s a lot of work to take someone to court, and you won’t get very far telling the judge you had someone’s word they’d pay.

 

Account for all hours. Even if you don’t bill for your time, or do work that isn’t billable, it’s a good idea to see where the time goes. You might find out you’ve spent 20 hours to close a 25-hour project.

 

Don’t spread yourself too thin. Freelancing especially can be feast or famine, but don’t let it cloud your judgment into saying yes too often. A couple 80-hour weeks here and there, for a rainy day or extended vacation, is OK. But take on too much and your work will suffer.

 

Get what’s coming to you. As a business owner, you’ll find all kinds of tax deductions you never had before. Familiarize yourself with as many as possible. Stay on top of things by paying your taxes quarterly. Even if you’re an accountant yourself, it’s still a good idea to hire one.

 

Don’t skimp on your tools. If the biggest, baddest Mac is what you need to do your job, better, faster, and cheaper, then get it.

 

Don’t shortchange your professional development. Like an overused knife, skills can dull over time. Even a deductible junket like a trip to the Mac Expo could clue you into a new revenue opportunity. And finally...

 

The Worst--and by Worst, We Mean Greatest--Bad Business Domain Names of All Time

 

For these really, really unfortunate accidents of phrasing and juvenilia, you’ll almost have to force yourself to go back to eighth grade. But once you do (and we guarantee you, you will) you won’t be able to see anything but names that clearly would’ve benefited from some sturdier focus grouping.

 

www.smartassess.com

www.dicksonweb.com

www.ihavegas.com

www.nycanal.com

www.webone.com

www.gotahoe.com

www.cummingfirst.com

www.molestationnursery.com

www.ipanywhere.com

www.penisland.net