So I just registered my own business.

[Bootboy]

What do I have to look forward to? Regardless of my success, is the current economic/political atmosphere friendly to such a venture?
Those of you who have, or have had small businesses, school me.
Teach me. Things I need to do, tips for taxes, strategies, etc.

[oldno7]

Congrats, what is this business?

Is it your only source of income?

Lots of +/-

but we might need more info.

[DOSS]

What do I have to look forward to? Regardless of my success, is the current economic/political atmosphere friendly to such a venture?
Those of you who have, or have had small businesses, school me.
Teach me. Things I need to do, tips for taxes, strategies, etc.

Well not knowing your business it is hard to answer most of those questions... but..

Have a full business plan, have it written down etc.. this makes all the difference in the world - up until government regulations change and screw you ;)

[oldno7]

also--sole proprietor, LLC, Corp??

[Scott P]

If you move out of state, Utah will still send you tax bills for several years until you dissolve your business.

Make sure to file taxes every year, even if you didn’t make any money.

[rockgremlin]

Doesn't matter what the economic atmosphere is if you have a business that satisfies a pressing demand.

[Iceaxe]

Doesn't matter what the economic atmosphere is if you have a business that satisfies a pressing demand.

^^^THIS^^^

Some business flourish in a depressed economy.... it just depends.

Sent using Tapatalk

[Bootboy]

It's a tree care business. It's not my primary income. It's basically supplemental income. The idea is that I can take on as much or as little work as I want. Will it cost me to keep people on the payroll even if work is slow or non existent at times? It's listed as an LLC.
There's just so much I have to learn.

[rockgremlin]

Winter will be your slow season. I wouldn't put anyone on the payroll until you can build a steady clientele - beyond what you're able to accomplish yourself, and then only hire as many as can get the job done. Any more than that is too many.

A few considerations:

Do your employees get any benefits? Do they work weekends/holidays? Do they get overtime pay?

Since your employees are gonna be outdoors and exposed to risks, have you thought about hazard insurance?

What's your employee's base pay?

What's your capital investment (ie how much will it cost up front to purchase work trucks, required gear, fleet insurance, advertising, etc)?

Where's your hiring pool - craigslist/KSL.com/classifieds/Bogley? :)

[Sombeech]

Next step - unionize your employees!

[DOSS]

employees = contractors (much less hassle if you won't have them year round)
Also don't forget firewood season... oh and my brother has 5 trees in his backyard that need work.. PM me your number if you are working already and I will get it to him :)

[JONBOYLEMON]

PS, you may want to seriosly look at employee leasing through a company so you dont have to deal with all the crap that comes from having employees.

Employees can make you a very wealthy person, they can also literally kill you. Tree work is high risk, having been a high rise glass clarity improvement technician "Window cleaner" and a contractor, I have seen several injuries on jobs which have cost 100's of thousands of dollars to the company. Better have GREAT INSURANCE!!!!!!!!!

Look at the guy who got sucked into an asphaly zipper yesterday in Saratoga. One second the guy is there, and the next he is ground up into specs of flesh and bone in a truck!!!!!!

I dont mean to scare you, but you need to be VERY CAREFUL on managing risk.

Best of luck in your venture. You must love the work and that is a very important ingredient in success. Also, make sure you know your true cost of doing business, otherwise you will find you are too cheap. Also, if you get all the work you put a bid in on, you are WAY TOOOOO CHEAP!!!!!!!!!

I dont know what tree work %'s are on landed work, but I am thrilled to get 5-10% of the work I bid on. Also, my profit margin changes on every job based upon years of experience that tell me when I am well positioned to get the bid.

[Iceaxe]

FWIW: I get about 25% to 30% of the work I bid, but most my work is repeat customers and I know I am not always the lowest bid but they will use my price if I'm close because I am the best and my customers can make up the difference in shop hours on a well engineered job.

Noob's going into business always bid to cheap, usually because they don't see all the hidden expenses that will hit them. Taxes and insurance are a killer.

You can write a lot of stuff off.... I call it "Big Dollars" versus "Little Dollars"... anything the company can buy (cars, gas, insurance) can be written off, which basically means you don't pay taxes on that money as money earned. My Big Dollars are worth about 35% more than my little dollars.

If you are set up as a corporation the company is basically treated like a person when it comes to paying taxes. The company pays taxes on everything it makes.

One thing I have seen done with high risk businesses is to start two company's. One owns all the equipment and hard assets, the second does all the labor and work but actually owns nothing/very little.

The first company than leases the equipment to the second company. This way if you have a major accident it is the first company that gets sued, which doesn't matter as it owns very little. You can't squeeze blood from a turnip.

And one of the main reasons for starting a company is the company is treated like an individual, so if there is an accident only the company can be sued. It's much harder to sue you personally and win.

That's just the simplified version, but it should help you understand.

I do have one strong belief when it comes to money..... the only way to get ahead is to start your own company.

[Bootboy]

I understand the risks involved specific to this line of work. I've been doing tree work under the table and by word of mouth for a couple years. I just wanted to go legit with it. I'm fairly good at bidding but doing things the right way means something's will change. It might be a shock to my system now that Uncle Sam gets his cut.

One way Ive gotten around it for a while is that My buddy owns a landscaping company and sometimes I'll pay his guys to haul my brush, and the home owner writes the check out to his business. He has them all insured but that's taking a big risk for my sake. I'd like to not have my own employees but always have help ready when I land a job.