Screen name. (Business questions)

Thanks RangerBob. I actually just set up a preliminary ig account last night. I'll change the name with "... Works".

Good thoughts on how it sounds too. I couldn't put my finger on why it sounded better, but I think you are spot on.

Yes, I wouldn't at all be surprised about the name squatter thing. I still think it's weird that a company can do a huge name grab then rent the name you need to you. Otoh, a lot comes with those few measly dollars so I'm cool with it.

Now I think it's time for some business cards. Need to really organize my shop too. DBA too. So much to do!
 
VistaPrint for the business cards. They do a trifold brochure for us too. Excellent work, service and prices. I have no experience with GoDaddy. We are hooked up with 3DCart for our website. Wow are they good and simply unbelievable service.
 
Vistaprint, good deal. That was the first place I looked at last night. They seem to have some good building software.

I only went with GoDaddy because they owned the domain name. I'll find out how good their website builder software is shortly.

Paid for the name change too. Kevins out of town, but hopefully it won't take too long.
 
Strigamort said:
Well, I guess I just decided to change the name of the business. I registered the domain www.omegaleatherworks.com

This should be fun. :) we'll see how it pans out. Definitely need a new laptop too.

Thanks for your help guys. Any general advice about web building welcome. For instance, should I make a new email address for the business, or just continue using my personal account? Should I open a new PayPal account, or continue using my established personal account? Clearly I'm brand spankin new to this. My brother in law builds websites as his profession so I'll contact him about that. I went with the godaddy website builder option and I'm pretty quick at learning this kinda stuff.

Edit- changed the title to reflect the business focus.

You know what would be seriously helpful? A business wip thread. I'm not kidding. Maybe I'll do one because I think it would be incredibly helpful to people in the beginning stages of building a business.
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a buisness WIP thread is brilliant! I'm in a similar boat... just a year or two behind. I'm thinking about making a website and selling a line of handmade production knives once i get more free time and i've hardly got the first clue about how i'm doing all of this. Learning as you go and making mistakes is what it's all about, but if there's one thing i've learned from BF is to listen to learn from everyone elses experience and try to avoid as many of the same mistakes... makes the cost of a membership worth 30 times what i paid for it.
 
Yes, the membership has been one of the best things I've done. I get clients from all over the place, even people not registered here just because they saw a picture from Google. Even if you took away all of the excellent learning opps, it would still pay for itself very quickly if you just post your work. I've only just considered any form of advertising (website, social media, etc) and I'm taking these steps because I'm advancing beyond this being a hobby. There have definitely been times where I actually had more work than I wanted, but I'm trying to get more organized. I believe, for me, getting (much) more organized will help in the speed that I get work done ($), but also be a better atmosphere to exercise creativity. The hardest part is separating my role as husband and father from actual work time. This isn't a problem when I go work at the factory (I have a corporate job), but being at home, everyone thinks that I'm free for whatever needs done. Still gotta figure out how to break the news to everyone. :D

Edit- as for a business wip, I think that would be best limited to a "Business" forum. I sincerely hope it gets made because I think there would be some very interesting discussion.
 
Edit- as for a business wip said:
I agree, it would be nice to have a business forum. I often have questions that I'm not sure where they should go but, they would fit nicely into a business forum.

Bob
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Couldn't figure out why I couldn't log in through Tapatalk. Looks like my name change went through. That was quick!

Looks good eh? :)

Oh and my website is live. Still needs a lot of work, but it's up. My sincere thanks guys. You are all awesome.
 
Congrats on your new domain name Anthony. I just took a look at your website, and it looks like you're on your way. While I'm late chiming in, I think it doesn't matter so much which you use for a screen name, your business or person name, as long as your personal name is used so folks know who you are. I really like having a "name" to associate folks with rather than some funky screen name - some of which are downright silly. Yea, I know - I'm an OLD foggy (hum, can't even spell the word correctly) {g}

That's why you'll find me as KenH, or some variant of that on most forums, be it ham radio or knife forums - that's just who I am... Ken Holland.

Ken H>
 
I hardly recognized you... thank god you haven't changed the avatar yet, lol. looks good man. glad you're getting your stuff in gear. I'm in the same boat with trying to separate home life with my garage. I've dedicated two nights a week to being in there so I can actually get something done and get my knives out there. I have been really random in the past and it's lead to getting really random results on when and how I get a knife out.
 
Good job buddy. I checked out the site too. Good deal.
 
Congratulations on your name change. I've strongly considered doing that too. I've seen you frequently posting on the sheath forum and like your work/progression.

I wish you the best.

After you get things going really well in the future, find someone who knows web programming or Dreamweaver software to further improve your website by using SSL (server side includes and other "tricks"). Also, I suggest that your home page TITLE be: "Omega Leather - Home", rather than simply "home".

Please view this as constructive, rather than critical.

Mike L.
 
Anthony, I might suggest you look at a website software package called "Weebly" . It was started as a college term project by a couple guys who now run it full time. Here's the best part: It is free if you can limit yourself to 6 pages or less and it is so easy to use because it uses drag and drop caption areas , text, and photos. I switched to it about 2 years ago and it works great. It has many formats and cover pages photos and backgrounds and you can change them in minutes to get a new look without spending any $$. You will see my website at the end of my post...see what you think of my format. Larry Lehman
 
rustyrazor said:
I hardly recognized you... thank god you haven't changed the avatar yet, lol. looks good man. glad you're getting your stuff in gear. I'm in the same boat with trying to separate home life with my garage. I've dedicated two nights a week to being in there so I can actually get something done and get my knives out there. I have been really random in the past and it's lead to getting really random results on when and how I get a knife out.
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That's very well said. I can turn out a product that I'm proud of, but it's taking too long. A little here, a little there is not going to cut it if I'm going to have a full go at this.

I've already had some good feedback on the site. I really need to kind of re-do the whole thing, but I'm trying to learn the software while coming up with content. I really wish that I'd taken a good portfolio seriously from the start. My pics blow. I've got an excellent camera, but I need to build a light tent and carefully take pictures from now on.

I gave the name a lot of thought. I think if I was a knife maker I'd try to build MY name, but with sheaths I decided that a brand name was more valuable.

Larry, I just signed up with weebly. I'll start playing with it today. Thanks for the tip. :)

Edit- Mike, I see nothing negative in your comments at all. I'll try to remember to change the home title. I'll ask my brother in law about ssl. Poor guy. It's almost as bad as being a car mechanic or doctor. Everyone in the family bugging you and all. :o
 
Then you got to start thinking about a merchant account too. Not everbody Paypals. You'll need to take a copy of your FBN with ya to the bank. Some folks still want to pay with checks too.
 
I haven't really been able to figure out how I want to get paid. If I were selling stuff off the shelf then ecommerce would probably be a necessity, but all of my work (at least for now) is custom.

Paul Long simply mails an invoice with their knife and sheath. Not sure I want to go that route though mainly because I don't want to keep track of who owes me what. Then dealing with a non-pay would probably make me fairly upset. I don't take too many things personal, but the way I do business is, by its nature, a pretty personal transaction.
 
If I remember right your wife is handy with the numbers. You might want to check with her. Some of our processes and practices are based on ease of accounting etc. By the way Quick Books has worked very well for us over the years and makes our CPA happy. Its also a great tool for keeping track of your customers and sales and what sells for you and what doesn't. I realize you are mostly a one off custom deal however that info can still be used in ordering materials etc.
 
Omega Leather Works said:
Paul Long simply mails an invoice with their knife and sheath.
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I am amazed how many people in the knife community do business this way. Bill Ruple called me the other day and said he had my knife ready. I said "ok, I'll send you a check". The knife was delivered to my house the next day.

Bob
 
Omega Leather Works said:
You're right, she has a degree in accounting. She's insanely busy with her job and the kids, but I'll get her opinion.
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My "ex" is a CPA but was very busy with her work, and she refused to help me with the accounting, or even suggest how I should approach my accounting :confused:. Maybe that's why she's the "ex"?

Anyway, I've located a local accountant who will look over my business record keeping system and files (I'm using Quickbooks), and make suggestions for how to structure the coding of expenses, income, etc. so that I can easily fill out my yearly tax return . . . all for a little over $200.

I have a good feeling that I'm doing a fair job of tracking expenses and deductibles properly, but a couple hundred $ is good insurance, in my opinion, to assure that I don't end up having to restate a bunch of stuff 10 years from now.

I highly recommend Quickbooks although it requires a learning curve and may be upwards of $600. You don't have to track and account for all inventory. At the very least, you can use it to document customers, vendors, quotes, invoices, receipts, income, payments, and expenses.
 
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