LLC's - What They Are and Why You Need One

A question that I received last week from a fellow businesswoman was “What is an LLC and do I need one?”

The short answer to this question is first, an emphatic “Yes!” The rest is a bit more technical. I will try to explain this as simply as possible (keeping in mind that I am not an attorney!)

Let’s think of it like this, you have been in business for yourself long enough that you know that your business is going to be something that will be around for long term. So now what? There are several steps to the LLC process, which I will discuss in later postings, but for now I will focus on what an LLC is and the benefits of becoming one.

First, LLC’s, or Limited Liability Companies, protect you personally; by having an LLC in place, you will protect your personal assets. How is this? When you form an LLC, all of your business dealings under the LLC are recognized as dealings by the Limited Liability Company, not as you, the individual.

Confused??? Here is an example:

Megan is a photographer and shoots an engagement session for a client. During the session, Megan has her client hang from the side of a building (which I sometimes do in my own photography!) and the client falls and breaks every bone in her body.

Second scenario: Megan shoots a wedding and her memory cards all catastrophically fail and all of the wedding images are lost (God forbid!)

Now let’s look at the consequences of Megan with an LLC and Megan without an LLC:

With an LLC, if Megan is sued by either of these clients, any damages awarded to the clients would come out of the LLC’s profits and holdings rather than Megan’s personal finances. Even better, let’s assume that as an LLC, Megan is a smart girl and has business insurance and the settlement is covered under her insurance policy. This way Megan’s personal finances are completely protected and she won’t have to worry about wiping out her kids’ college funds to pay a settlement!

Without an LLC, the clients would need to sue Megan personally and could potentially wipe out Megan’s life savings and would not only ruin her financially, but could ruin her entire business as well. As an individual you do not have the luxury of having business insurance because you are an individual, not technically a business owner.

There is so much more to this and there are many steps in the process of creating an LLC. In the future, I will blog about how the process works and show you that there really is no need to spend upwards of $600 on an attorney to put together your LLC, when you can easily put together an LLC for $200 or less.

Sarah Adams
Dandelion Network Founder

To Blog or Not to Blog - There is No Question

Someone asked me today about the relevance of having a blog for her business, so I thought this would be the perfect time to take the opportunity to share the importance and benefits of blogging.

For starters, "Why do I need a blog?" The answer to this is multi-level and really doesn't have a short answer, but I will do my best to cut right to the point. A blog is important for many reasons:

Staying Connected and Maintaining a Relationship with Your Clients
Your blog is a way for you to both connect and to stay connected with your target clientele base.
Writing a blog on a regular basis, even if it is only once or twice a week shows your clients that you care enough to keep in touch with them.

By continually blogging about things that your client wants to know about, you are both informing them and giving them a reason to keep coming back. This could seal the deal with potential clients who are not yet sure whether or not they want to use your services or to buy your products.

Contests and Giveaways
Your blog is the perfect forum to stage various contests and giveaways, so take advantage of it! Every woman loves contests and they especially love it if they are getting something for free. From time to time if you host contests, it will drive more and more traffic to your site as people hear about the prizes that were won by their friends.

Educate, Don't "Hard Sell" Your Product/Services
Blogs are so valuable because you alone can educate about your products/services as no one else can. However, don't just use your blog as the opportunity to sell yourself or your products. Consumers don't like pushy saleswomen. They want to learn about products and then to make an educated decision about them. If every time they come to your blog the feel that you are simply advertising a service, they will catch on and move on.

Use your blog as a forum to open your reader's eyes to new products, ideas, and services that they may not otherwise have heard about, not just your own! No matter how great the product is that you are selling, you can only talk about that product for so long before they get bored. By constantly changing up your blog you will give readers a reason to keep coming back and a reason to share your blog with other.

Making the Most of Your Blog
I will use fellow Dandelion Network Mandy of Divine Designs by Mandy since she will have her new website up and running soon (hooray!)

What are some ways that Mandy could have a successful blog?

The easy answer is that Mandy could use her blog as a place to showcase her latest work. But there is simply so much more to it than that! Most of Mandy's readers will more than likely be bridal clientele, so Mandy of course will need to cater to that market.

That leads to the question, "How can Mandy effectively market and not "sell" her products?" How can she do this? By helping the brides along the way with all of their wedding planning! From talking about other great vendors that brides should know about, to dishing on all of the latest and greatest wedding trends, Mandy should seize the opportunity to help brides through the stressful planning of their wedding. By doing this Mandy will build trust with her clients, she will give them a reason to come back on a regular basis, and if her tips are useful, they will tell their friends and family which will only increase her client base.

The second part, is that Mandy could use a blog to her advantage is that she can take these already established relationships with her brides and their families and turn them into long term relationships. She can show samples of how to arrange silk flowers, how to plant a beautiful flower garden, how to arrange bouquets in a vase, and so on. By not just the brides, but also their friends and families, a reason to come back after the wedding, they will be more likely to remain clients for the long haul. Everyone needs flowers at some point, so why shouldn't Mandy show them that they can keep coming back to her long after the wedding is over!

How to Get Your Own Blog Started
Getting started it easy! Simply Google "Free Blogs" and ample choices will appear! Two of my favorites are Word Press and Blogspot. They are both great because they are completely free and no commitment at all. This is great especially for those first starting a business who don't have a lot of expendable income. For Blogspot, all you have to do is set up a Gmail account and start your Blogspot blog!

Wordpress is also free; however, with Wordpress you can eventually turn it into a professional blog with the help of sites such as ProPhoto. ProPhoto templates can turn your free WordPress blog into a professional work of art for less than $200! That is the company that the Dandelion Network will be using by the spring of 2010.

I hope that this gives you all something to think about and that it helps guide you in deciding when or if to take the leap into taking on a blog. Please give me feedback and let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Blogging,
Sarah
Founder - The Dandelion Network

Websites for the Professional Businesswoman

Happy Monday Dandelion blog readers!

One thing that today’s businesswoman has to her advantage, that businesswomen as early as even 5 years ago were seriously lacking, is access to professional websites at affordable costs. In today’s market, the professional businesswoman is not only expected to maintain a professional Internet presence, it is a must for a successful business in today’s society.

One way that you can stand head and shoulders above your competition is to invest in a professional website that is both aesthetically pleasing to the eye and easily navigable for your clients. If you have done any research at all, you will know that there are dozens of companies out there such as Google and Yola that offer free websites. However, these freebie sites are often not user friendly and lack a true professional feel. As I am sure many of you can relate to, I have often gone to websites for vendors and quickly left their site because it was either 1) unprofessional in appearance or 2) difficult to navigate.

So what’s a girl to do? Fear not, there are affordable and professional options out there that will not break the bank when starting your new business or giving a facelift to an existing site; one such option is Blu Domain.

Blu Domain sites are extremely affordable, easy to navigate, and exude a truly professional appearance. Websites start as low as $50 and run up to $400 for their specialty websites.

Here is the scoop on Blu Domain:

Pricing
The website prices do not include hosting costs; these fees are additional and must be paid whether or not you host with Blu Domain.

Hosting
Whatever you do, do not host with Blu. I have hosted with them in the past and experienced a myriad of problems with their hosting. These problems ranged from no e-mail access for weeks at a time and my site randomly experiencing technical problems. I have since switched my hosting to GoDaddy and am very pleased with their hosting services. They are extremely affordable and you can often find coupons online for their services, simply by Googling “GoDaddy Coupons”.

Customer Service
This leads me to Blu’s customer service. When it comes to Blu’s customer service, their clients almost always have a love or hate relationship with them. I have experienced both emotions very strongly when dealing with them! When dealing with Blu, patience is truly key to keeping your cool! Blu does not have any phone support and all support will be done via e-mail. Their correspondence is often sketchy and takes much longer to get anything done than they lead you to believe.

User Friendliness
A bonus is that Blu’s sites are very user friendly for both you and your clients! The learning curve is very minimal and you will very quickly catch on to how to edit and run your website.

Visit BluDomain.com for more information on their websites and services.

All in all, Blu Domain’s site are extremely affordable and a very good value for the money. Just remember, the client’s first impression of your business can be a make or break situation. If they view your website and it is hard to navigate and does not represent your business in a professional light, they will quickly and without a second thought move on from your site to a more professional looking site in a flash.

Join me next Monday for more business tips and ideas or become a Fan of the Dandelion Network on Facebook to stay up to date on all of the latest Dandelion happenings.

Have a great week!

Sarah Adams
Founder – The Dandelion Network

Beg, Barter and Steal!

Happy Monday Dandelion Ladies and Fans!

As I made a phone call to a new business contact this morning, I was inspired to write this e-mail. As business owners and business women, we should all be embracing any opportunity that we can to Beg, Barter and Steal. Okay, maybe not the opportunity to steal, but hopefully you will get my point by the end of this post!

In the past couple of years since starting my three businesses, not to mention the state of the economy as a whole, my family has had to do what I like to refer to as “Creative Financing.” Creative Financing has given me the opportunity to work with some amazing vendors and the opportunities to receive their services at either free of charge or at a deeply discounted fee. So of course now you are asking how on earth have I done this?

To start with, whether or not own your own business, if you are in the service industry you may have to chance to offer your own services free of charge or at a deep discount. So where do you begin?

First, assess what your personal needs are? These needs can range from the personal vanity needs/wants, such as “I can’t afford trips to my favorite upscale salon anymore” or “I need a new roof on my house!” So what do you do? I will take an example of something that I did earlier in the year to explain how free and easy it can be to Beg and Barter!

I had just launched my newest business venture, Fine Art Boudoir Photography. This being my “baby” and my favorite type of photography, I really wanted a professional logo that had a strong branding and marketing presence. My first step was to post an ad on Craig’s List. I know that this may seem either 1) too simple, 2) crazy, or 3) intimidating. Trust me, I will address each of these!

What I did first was to post a simple ad on Craig’s List saying that I would like to barter my photography services with a professional logo designer. I stated that the designer must be experienced with a strong professional portfolio that I can view through their professional website.

In being extremely specific in my requests I got several points across: 1) I want them to prove that they are a true professional and not some whacko off of the street. 2) They must be willing to barter services so that I am out no costs. 3) I want to see samples of their work so that I can see if I feel that the barter is worth my while and that they are in fact a true professional.

Also, for safety reasons, once any prospective designers contacted me whose services I felt were a good fit, I then Googled them. If I saw anything negative about their services or them personally, I automatically shot them down. Then, if I found no info whatsoever about them, that was also a red flag. You would be surprised what you can find when you Google someone’s name!

Long story short, I found a great match who amazingly enough has worked in the past with major national brand campaigns and he was willing to barter completely for his services! So for a few hours of my time spent on his projects that he had for me, I received a professional logo that would have cost me between $1,000-2,000!

The sky is the limit on this ladies! Anytime you really have a want, but can’t justify the money, or have a home expense, sit down and think “How can I get this for free or at a discount?” Once you get the hang of bartering down, you would be amazed at how many thousands of dollars you can save by bartering. The key is to be polite, creative, and persistent!

Now get out there and see what you can make happen!

Sarah

Dandelion Network Founder

How to Create Your Own Fan Page

Hello Dandelion Ladies and Dandelion Fans!

One of the best resources that we have at our hot little fingertips is Facebook! Since the explosion of Facebook, we have been given such a wonderful gift for advertising and marketing our services. The best part? It's FREE!

As a businesswoman, one of your first steps should be to create a Fan Page on Facebook. Be sure that you are creating an actual "Fan Page," not a "Group" because Fan Pages are filtered into News Feeds while Groups are not.

To create your own Fan Page, click HERE. Please note - when creating the name for your page, you can't change it once you have chosen your name. So be sure to give careful consideration to what you would like to name your page since it is forever. Also, if you are an independent distributor for a product, such as our Amanda Vines with Thirty-One, you can still create a page. Simply create a page that has both the name of your company and your own name.

Once you create your page, a great way to draw Fans to your page is to post your page everywhere - on your blog, your website, your own Facebook page, etc. Don't be bashful!

Stay tuned for more great Tips for the Modern Businesswoman!

~Sarah Adams

Creator of the Dandelion Network