First off, this is not my first online business, it will, however, be the first one I start from the ground up and in fact, I am still in the process of getting ready for the 30DC which will hopefully answer a lot of my questions as to which niche to pursue, which, along with sorting out the great information on this forum and books I've read such as 4HWW, I know that I will have something in place soon.
With all that said, the first step has been taken, we have decided and taken action towards setting up as an s-corp in our home state(IL). We decided against an LLC as this first business will be the test to prove that not only can we start a concept, but that we can create wealth and use the tools that have been provided by so many gracious people in our lives, from our parents to the wonderful contributors here to all the great free resources available online. As the tax benefits are virtually the same and asset protection is the same, the costs are not and really, unless we are starting a business that is investing in real-estate, other passive sources of revenue or requires investor funding, we do not need to form an LLC at this time and of course when the time comes, we can take that step if need-be.
In addition to help build skills another goal of the 30DC exercises will be to effectively promote the website for the charity we are supporting for this year's Chicago Marathon. Please take a look and let us know what you think(www(dot)firstgiving(dot)com(slash)clintmasser), but basically this is experience in itself as the thread about "Running a Charity Like A Business" states.
Some of the fastlane ideals involved are:
"How to make giving a 'win-win' situation"
By this we realize that in order to separate ourselves from the millions of other fund-raisers out there, we have to learn to effectively show the benefits for those making the donation, more-so than just trying to solicit funds for our cause. This is important because if we can get someone to give money in return for a tax deduction, instant gratification and a little self-promotion(if they so desire), then just imagine what we can do with a physical product/service! Not to mention this will help for future charitable endeavors we plan to undertake, including, but not limited to starting our own 501c3.
"How to use the tools of the internet to effectively sell"
As fanocks stated in another thread, charity is much like business in that you have to have a good premise to work off of otherwise just like having the greatest product, but the worst promotion, the greatest charity that is either not promoted or improperly promoted is bound to fail. Therefore this will be a great activity that not only motivates us to learn, but is for a great cause.
"Taking action instead of just making excuses"
Self-explanatory, I've had hundreds of ideas pop up in just the last year, but none have come to fruition, here's the first one that will actually be put to use, while this is someone else's charity, the marketing campaign and rewards of experience/self-gratification through helping others are all ours. Best of all, no matter what happens, as the quote in my signature states, the only way not to succeed is to not try, thus the experience and knowledge learned to apply towards future endeavors will be the success that this is measured by :coolgleamA:
So with that said, I'm open to comments/questions...
With all that said, the first step has been taken, we have decided and taken action towards setting up as an s-corp in our home state(IL). We decided against an LLC as this first business will be the test to prove that not only can we start a concept, but that we can create wealth and use the tools that have been provided by so many gracious people in our lives, from our parents to the wonderful contributors here to all the great free resources available online. As the tax benefits are virtually the same and asset protection is the same, the costs are not and really, unless we are starting a business that is investing in real-estate, other passive sources of revenue or requires investor funding, we do not need to form an LLC at this time and of course when the time comes, we can take that step if need-be.
In addition to help build skills another goal of the 30DC exercises will be to effectively promote the website for the charity we are supporting for this year's Chicago Marathon. Please take a look and let us know what you think(www(dot)firstgiving(dot)com(slash)clintmasser), but basically this is experience in itself as the thread about "Running a Charity Like A Business" states.
Some of the fastlane ideals involved are:
"How to make giving a 'win-win' situation"
By this we realize that in order to separate ourselves from the millions of other fund-raisers out there, we have to learn to effectively show the benefits for those making the donation, more-so than just trying to solicit funds for our cause. This is important because if we can get someone to give money in return for a tax deduction, instant gratification and a little self-promotion(if they so desire), then just imagine what we can do with a physical product/service! Not to mention this will help for future charitable endeavors we plan to undertake, including, but not limited to starting our own 501c3.
"How to use the tools of the internet to effectively sell"
As fanocks stated in another thread, charity is much like business in that you have to have a good premise to work off of otherwise just like having the greatest product, but the worst promotion, the greatest charity that is either not promoted or improperly promoted is bound to fail. Therefore this will be a great activity that not only motivates us to learn, but is for a great cause.
"Taking action instead of just making excuses"
Self-explanatory, I've had hundreds of ideas pop up in just the last year, but none have come to fruition, here's the first one that will actually be put to use, while this is someone else's charity, the marketing campaign and rewards of experience/self-gratification through helping others are all ours. Best of all, no matter what happens, as the quote in my signature states, the only way not to succeed is to not try, thus the experience and knowledge learned to apply towards future endeavors will be the success that this is measured by :coolgleamA:
So with that said, I'm open to comments/questions...
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