/biz/ - Business & Finance

[Anonymous No.1193070]

Hi /biz/

I run my own company. I'm a freelance graphic designer, I do lots of branding and identity for businesses as well as promotional material and what not. I have a sole proprietorship set up and make my own income through that. My goal is really to expand, get an office, hire an account manager and jr. designer so I can focus more of my time on the part of the job that I love the most, the creativity.

I'm just wondering, what's the best way to go about doing this? Keep scrimping my money away until I have enough to hire someone on? Do I apply for a loan? I'm in Canada by the way. It just seems like I need some startup money to take the business from the level it's at now (home office, single employee handling everything) to where I want it to be. I don't even know if I'm being clear with what I'm asking here but any advice on how to take my business to the next level would be appreciated. Is applying for a bank loan the best way to go? How do I determine my own salary vs what goes into the "company's wallet"? Any resources that you know of for me to look at and gauge eventual employees salaries? I'm kind of in the dark here for most of this stuff.

Pic unrelated.

[Anonymous No.1193105]

>>1193070
First thing to do OP: Stop that sole proprietorship. If shot goes wrong it's your pocket so no safety net. Step two, find out the amount you need to survive and the amount your business needs. Then get a loan, build some controllable debt but don't go crazy now

[Anonymous No.1193124]

>>1193070

In the early stages of a business like this one, I would just do everything yourself.

The moment you are getting so much business you cant even handle it anymore, is the moment you hire someone.

I don't believe in taking on debt without cashflow coming in. And good cashflow.

[Anonymous No.1194462]

>>1193105
Thanks, my accountant recommended for me to stick with sole proprietorship because he said there was no reason for me to do it at the time and it only costed about 300 bucks to incorporate and I could do it any time, do you have a recommendation for where I should go with it? Limited liability? Incorporate? Also, any tips or ideas for finding salaries for potential employees? I can't just call up my competitors and ask what they're paying their account managers and jr designers, so I'm not sure how to conduct the research on that front.

>>1193124
My business comes in bursts, I sometimes go a week without doing any client work at all, other times I'm so over worked that I have to hire freelancers to come in and do some side work for me just to meet deadlines. It's tricky, but I think I'm at the point where I'd like to expand and get a more consistent workflow going.

[Anonymous No.1194466]

>>1193070
Just contract out the workload to any small business-CPA firm.

[Anonymous No.1194478]

>>1193070

>Is applying for a bank loan the best way to go?
Until you "strike it big" and know you have a great opportunity ahead of you, I wouldn't take a bank loan. Like say, you win a contract over a legit advertising company. Something like that, I suppose. Most people decide to expand (physically) when their operations are so busy, there's simply not enough space to fit in people.

>How do I determine my own salary vs what goes into the "company's wallet"?

Question is answered differently for each owner. Some take less money to put into their business, others take more money to have a not-as profitable business. I guess, is to speak to your accountant for sure, to see what % is a safe amount of debt to have in a business -- I imagine the costs are stable and predictable unlike manufacturing. I think the taxes are the same no matter because it's a sole proprietorship. This question is more relevant if you incorporate into an LLC or whatever.

>Any resources that you know of for me to look at and gauge eventual employees salaries?
Free-market will set the average wage. Go with that to begin with, then raise them according to everyone else. The average entry wage for any artist working in an office in California is $12/hr for a "helper", the next raise is $16/hr, then the median is $30/hr. I imagine it ultimately comes down to % of the contracted job, instead of set salaries.

[Anonymous No.1194682]

Another issue is that since I'm working from home, it's hard to work local SEO because google is really focusing on your actual location when you're targeting a local market, and I don't have room to have a place in my house right now for meetings and having clients come in. I'd really like to get an office space so I can at least start really hammering into my SEO, as well as having a place to meet and talk to clients rather than always having me go to them (which is how I currently operate)

[Anonymous No.1195116]

How do you get your jobs?

[Anonymous No.1195272]

>>1194462

Oh. then hire someone.

dont forget to get a payroll company too. The checks and taxes are not worth the time to do yourself.

[Anonymous No.1195425]

>>1195116
I spent time fresh out of college at a few firms here and there, jumped around quite a bit. Got hired at a sign shop and made some connections there, then got hired by a real estate mogul to be his personal graphic designer for his remax office and several of his other business ventures, and I met a lot of people through him too. Lots of other business comes from word of mouth, but like I said, it comes in burts and I want to be able to normalize them.

>>1195272
Thanks, I didn't even know that was a thing that existed. I was thinking I'd have to hire an on staff accountant, but if I can get a business to handle payroll that would help too.