Small Business Ownership For Geeks

• • • • • Cameron Childress Native of Atlanta Georgia ColdFusion developer since 1942* Also Flex, AIR, iPhone, Development Founded Sumo Consulting Inc, 2003 If you can beat me at foosball and I will buy you a tasty beverage of your choice

*

by 1942, I mean 1996

How Do You ____?

How do you handle accounting?

• • • • • How do you write contracts?

How do you pay people?

How do you manage time?

How do you get organized?

How do you find time to write code?

I’m Not A Lawyer (find your own lawyer)

I’m Not An Accountant (find your own accountant)

Ask Questions

The Setup • • • Employee vs Business Owner Technical Details Lessons From the Field

Are You An Employee?

(from: richdad.com)

What Kind of Worker?

• • 1099 - Contrator W2 - Employee (mostly)

What Kind of Business?

• • • Sole Proprietorship - Limited protection S Corp Distributions aren’t taxed C Corp - Double taxation, lots of paperwork • LLC - Less paperwork, flexible More: http://www.themoneyalert.com/Corp-Entity-Table.html

Legal Contractors • Contractor Agreement • NDA • Statement Of Work • W9 Clients • Master Service Agreement • NDA • Statement Of Work

F*ck You Pay Me!

Client Relationship and Contact Commentary by Mike Monteiro 1. Contracts protect both parties 2.

Don’t start work without a contract 3.

Don’t blindly accept their terms Full video: http://vimeo.com/22053820

F*ck You Pay Me!

• • • 4.

on IP Transfer on Full Payment Termination (kill fee) Liability 4. Lawyers talk to Lawyers 5. Be specific and confident about money Full video: http://vimeo.com/22053820

Accounting • • Cash Basis vs Accrual Basis Pre-billing and Unearned Income

Accountants Can Help • • • • Cash Flow Projections Payroll Tax Filings Bookkeeping

Accounting Tools

Business Expenses Employee Business Owner

Keep ‘em Separated • • • Get business specific reward card(s) Get business checking account etc...

Business Expenses • • • • • Computer Equipment Auto Expenses / Miles Mobile Phone / Internet Conferences / Training Home Office

Lessons From The Field

Unexpected Costs?

• • • • • Office Space Signage Business Insurance (Liability + E&O) Accountant Attorney

Working

On

or

In

Your Company?

Project Overhead!

• You will often spend the same amount of administrative time on a $1,000 job as a $100,000 job.

Live In The Cloud!

Be Careful Working With Friends

Be Extra Careful Working With Spouses

The Math of • • Consulting You can’t stay billable all the time Holidays mean you aren’t making money • • Training costs you twice Employment Taxes The Unfortunate Math Behind Consulting Companies: ( blog.asmartbear.com/consulting-company-accounting.html

)

• Resources • • • Rework ( 37signals.com/rework ) Rich Dad Poor Dad (richdad.com) F*ck You Pay Me ( vimeo.com/22053820 ) The Unfortunate Math Behind Consulting Companies ( blog.asmartbear.com/consulting company-accounting.html

)

Questions?

Cameron Childress [email protected]

www.sumoc.com