Welcome to my Content Machine training guide! I have written Content Machine to document my process in expanding my offline business and my publishing library while also increasing my Amazon.com royalties through expanding my business as well.
First Step in Securing Interested “Clients”
I did not want to get into a complicated contract – with most services that I provide I do not really produce complicated contracts, and many times, I do not have contracts at all. I shape the deals to where I am generally protected to begin with, and in the areas that I am a bit open, I base my actions on trust. I always believed that contracts were important if I had an intention of taking my clients to small claims court if things went bad, and honestly, I do not have a desire to take my clients to court. The other purpose contracts serve for me is to clarify what the deal is, and that can be easily served in an easy to read letter of acknowledgement.
Please refer to the template that I included in this package to see the letter that I send to my clients. As you can see, it is fairly simple, and that is by design. I do not think it needs to be overly complicated, especially since the client can cancel at any time.
The following section goes into details on how to set up a legitimate company so that you can present a professional image to your clients, as well as enjoy the perks of owning a real business.
Your Business Name and Domain Name
The first thing to do is settle on your business name. Don't procrastinate starting your business because you can not decide on a business name. Just make a decision and go with it.
Your business name can be anything that you want, however I recommend that you choose a business name that has the ".com" version of the domain name available. It may take some searching and creativity, however there are still lots of great names out there that have not been registered - and if you use your local area within the name (your city name, county or state), it will be easier to get a good name to get started.
You can see what is available by going to GoDaddy and in the form that is at the middle of the page, check to see if the name is available. The price should be about $12.99 for a one year registration.
Go To Go Daddy.com
MadisonPublishingSolutions.com
MadisonBooks.com
MadisonPublishingStudios.com
You may have some different ideas too - pick something that you like that is available. Once you select a name, register the gmail address (or whatever free email program you like to use) for your business (ie. MadisonBooks@gmail.com). This is not to give this address away to anyone, it is just an interim address to use until your real email is set up. You can forward this new gmail address to whatever email you check regularly for now and make sure you set up your email program to send from this new address too so that your outgoing email can be from your business name and not your personal email. If you are using Gmail as I recommended, here is how you do that:
http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=22370
(Click on the link that says: I'm a Gmail or Google Apps user sending from an external address.)
Register the domain name once you are decided on it, and just use your personal information for now as you can change this later on, but you can use your new gmail address you set up for your business - you may have to set up an account at GoDaddy (which is free to do) if you do not already have one - just follow the directions on the check out process, and do not purchase any additional items. GoDaddy tried to upsell you left and right - say no thanks to everything and only pay for the cost of your domain for one year, which should be no more than about $13.
You are going to be registering a lot of different accounts in this process, as well as compiling different information that will be needed for your business. I have a 3-ring binder with some blank paper, the kind that has the folders on the side, to hold my initial information for my business - just so everything is in one place. In the binder, I also have sheet protectors, so I can print important emails and insert them in there. Have something like this to start documenting the important information you are setting up for your business - the first thing you need to document in this book that you will need over and over again is your GoDaddy account number (and your password, or keywords that will remind you what your pass is).
Your Business Credit
Once you have the basics in place, I wanted to talk a little bit about setting up your business credit profile.
Your business credit is not at all connected to your personal credit.
Even if you have terrible personal credit, if you have the above items in place, a phone number that is listed with 411, a business address that is commercially zoned, and a Web site, you can be eligible for basic business credit which I am detailing in this section.
As you start dealing with vendors, this will occur naturally, however it helps to be conscious of the fact that your business has a business credit profile so that you can take steps to age your profile in a favorable way so that when you do get to the point of wanting business credit, you are informed. Once you are at the point of having a physical address and a landline (even if you are a home-based business), start doing business with vendors that will report to your credit that you are a good paying customer.
Following are two companies that you can do business with to purchase office supplies and other equipment – both of these companies report to the major reporting agencies (Dun and Bradstreet and Equifax) under your business profile. This is not related to your personal credit profile in anyway.
Check out both of these sites and place an order. When you place the order over the phone, ask if you can get billed for the order. Sometimes you have to place one order before getting billed. Make sure that you use your business information on your order (business address, business phone, etc). When you get the bill, you will need to pay it in full within 30 days. Place an order every month or two and just build your relationship with them. Both have a standard credit limit of $1000 unless you get special approval. Just stay under $1000 outstanding, and after a year of good payment history, you should be able to get business credit with most venders. Most stores that you shop at have “commercial accounts” which you can apply for – this is essentially business credit. You can start exploring different credit options that can help grow your business when the time comes, however the first step is to start building a positive profile and you can do so by starting to do business with these two companies:
Reliable Office Products – http://www.reliable.com
Grainger Industrial – http://www.grainger.com
In addition, as you start building vendors to serve different needs of your business, ask the businesses if they would consider offering you terms on your orders. Sometimes they will, sometimes they won’t but it does not kill to ask. Usually they will offer you Net 30 which means that they will send you a bill that you have to pay within 30 days upon receipt. Keep track of the businesses that you have credit with (in the notebook I suggested you maintain!) and once you have 2-3 businesses, create a credit reference sheet that you can offer people who are considering giving you credit. A credit reference sheet looks similar to a resume. It should be on letterhead (which you can just use an electronic template off the Internet, it does not have to be anything fancy) and it should have your business name, address and phone number.
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