All Over the Place

I am happy. Today was 110% productive. Unfortunately though, not everything went according to plan.

This morning I woke up at 6:45am to a text message from a good friend of mine (and business partner), Eric. Normally I would be peeved, but he had good news. My other business over at Twenties Money Magazine (yes, I have another business!) is going to get some positive exposure, thanks to his networking skills.

So I spent the better part of my morning skimming over some new material ideas, putting together a small list of content for TMM and posted two new articles. I even created a little lobby group called Uninsured Anonymous. It's like AA, but without the alcohol. The idea is to get twenty-somethings (the target market for TMM) to gather with other uninsured to push the Obama Administration to reform health care. I call it viral lobbying... it's kind of like social marketing and viral news all smashed together. The whole concept is more silly than anything, because I do not expect it to take off... however, there is now a Facebook group, a Myspace page and a Twitter all dedicated to being uninsured. So we'll see what happens.

Green Cheeks!

Other than that, I finally got to talk to Rene Geneva - the local designer from the Green Expo that creates awesome corsets and clothing for Whole Foods. She's a really sweet woman and very cool, but I came to realize that I cannot afford to work with her! She was interested in doing a line of intimates, but she already has five lines of clothing she works on each season, so she does not have the manpower to do another unless someone wants to pay for it outright - which comes to the tune of about $10,000 a season (Summer/Winter lines).

As much as I'd like to, I can't swing that as a startup. It's also an unwise move because I would be putting a lot of the company's money into one brand, which increases my business risk exposure. Plus, if I actually had the $10,000, I would start with a more diverse group of manufacturers... then turn that around and plug the profits into a private label, like with Rene. Unfortunately I need the success before I can do something like that!

Motivation

So rather than being a debbie-downer, I took the disappointment and used it as motivation to work on finalizing my business plan. I need to see if I can apply for a SBA micro loan, but there is so much that goes into a loan application... including your own credit history. So I went online to check out my credit reports at the FTC Annual Credit Report website. And so far, so good.

Side note: Annual Credit Report happens to be the only truely free resource for credit reports online. Any other place that offers "free" report service tends to put terms in the fine print to sign you up for "credit evaluation services" and charge you monthly fees, etc. Unfortunately, I know this from experience. The first time that I checked my credit reports, I got sucked into one of scams at the freecreditreport.com website. DONT GO THERE! They're "free" for the first 30-days and then they hammer you with monthly charges for services that you do not need. Then they argue with you about wanting to cancel it! Save yourself the aggravation and go to the government sponsored website that I provided the link for. It's secure!

Taxes... *shudder*

I also went downtown to a Texas taxpayer seminar for small businesses. It was for the Sales and Use Tax permits and Resale Licensing. If you are starting any kind of business in Texas, I would recommend that you take the class. It's only two hours and they give you a lot of information. The best part is that they allow you to ask specific questions regarding your business.

After listening to everyone else's questions, I realized that my business is a lot simpler than I thought - in terms of paying my taxes on time. Plus, I think that I knew a bit more than most people who walked in because I've been paranoid about the tax code ever since my accountant messed up my filing. I have been reading the Texas Comptroller website like a mad woman!

Anyway, go check out the class. The schedule can be found here.

Peace!