The Cost of Starting and Being in Business - Photography part 2
(this is a reprint of a series of notes I wrote in Facebook in 2009)
So our subject is finding out the real costs of doing business and decided to scale back to a home based business when faced with the cost of a retail location and build out.
In this episode I thought we would talk more about incidental costs to running a business.
We started with a minimum hard cost of $229 dollars to set up an LLC and get a business license.
Our subject decided they would accept credit cards, requiring a merchant card service and equipment. The merchant card service cost $300 for the Equipment and $8 per month, not to mention the transaction fees. For the moment we'll focus on the hard costs totaling $396 the first year and $96 every year after.
Do you want a website? Oh yes, our subject chimes in. Do you really need it? I would say you can not get away with out having a website since a website can bring you business and could be an invaluable marketing tool.
To have a real website you need a domain name (that's the yourwebsite.com URL address) you will also need a host and you will need the design and content for the website. A domain will cost you about $10 per year, a host will cost you $7-12 per month or more; I recommend a dedicated IP address on your host which costs an additional $1-3. We'll estimate $10/month or $120/year with the domain we get a total cost of $130 per year.
Now the design and content you do want to hire someone or build it yourself? What will it cost to have someone build it, our subject reluctantly asks. Depending on who you have do the work Design will cost from $600-3000 or more and content Runs from $130-300 per page at 350 words. That sounds costly our subject says with a distaste full spat. It can be built by yourself but it can also be worth while to pay for good design and content if you don't have the skills. I think I'll start with building my own and pay someone for design and content later, our subject says decisively.
What additional marketing do you want to do, Just having a website wont bring you enough clients to stay in business. I think I'll join a trade organization and the local chamber of commerce.
Both are good ideas if you attend events taking the time to network and do additional marketing. The trade organization will cost you $75 or more per year depending on the organization. The local chamber of commerce in West Valley will cost you $180 or more per year.
You will need a phone and Internet service. A phone will cost you from $60/month and internet will cost $40/month or more depending on speed.
Think about what additional marketing you want to do for developing your full advertising plan. We'll discuss more about that in our next part.
To recap We started with a minimum hard cost of $229 dollars to set up an LLC and get a business license. Add $396 for merchant card services, $130/yr for website hosting and domain, $100 for phone and internet. Finally add $255/yr for memberships with trade organizations and chamber of commerce. Total $1110 for the first year and $821 every year after.
So our subject is finding out the real costs of doing business and decided to scale back to a home based business when faced with the cost of a retail location and build out.
In this episode I thought we would talk more about incidental costs to running a business.
We started with a minimum hard cost of $229 dollars to set up an LLC and get a business license.
Our subject decided they would accept credit cards, requiring a merchant card service and equipment. The merchant card service cost $300 for the Equipment and $8 per month, not to mention the transaction fees. For the moment we'll focus on the hard costs totaling $396 the first year and $96 every year after.
Do you want a website? Oh yes, our subject chimes in. Do you really need it? I would say you can not get away with out having a website since a website can bring you business and could be an invaluable marketing tool.
To have a real website you need a domain name (that's the yourwebsite.com URL address) you will also need a host and you will need the design and content for the website. A domain will cost you about $10 per year, a host will cost you $7-12 per month or more; I recommend a dedicated IP address on your host which costs an additional $1-3. We'll estimate $10/month or $120/year with the domain we get a total cost of $130 per year.
Now the design and content you do want to hire someone or build it yourself? What will it cost to have someone build it, our subject reluctantly asks. Depending on who you have do the work Design will cost from $600-3000 or more and content Runs from $130-300 per page at 350 words. That sounds costly our subject says with a distaste full spat. It can be built by yourself but it can also be worth while to pay for good design and content if you don't have the skills. I think I'll start with building my own and pay someone for design and content later, our subject says decisively.
What additional marketing do you want to do, Just having a website wont bring you enough clients to stay in business. I think I'll join a trade organization and the local chamber of commerce.
Both are good ideas if you attend events taking the time to network and do additional marketing. The trade organization will cost you $75 or more per year depending on the organization. The local chamber of commerce in West Valley will cost you $180 or more per year.
You will need a phone and Internet service. A phone will cost you from $60/month and internet will cost $40/month or more depending on speed.
Think about what additional marketing you want to do for developing your full advertising plan. We'll discuss more about that in our next part.
To recap We started with a minimum hard cost of $229 dollars to set up an LLC and get a business license. Add $396 for merchant card services, $130/yr for website hosting and domain, $100 for phone and internet. Finally add $255/yr for memberships with trade organizations and chamber of commerce. Total $1110 for the first year and $821 every year after.
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