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Monday night - Company plans
Jul. 22nd, 2002 11:32 pmWe're paying good money for a cable modem that doesn't work. I cannot understand why we're doing this. Adelphia's customer service is much better than Earthlink's, but at least we actually had access with our dialup most of the time. Unbelievable.
Anyway, that's not what I want to write about. What I want to write about is our lovely web design company. Yes, that's right, the one that we started almost a year ago and never went anywhere with. I'd like to take this opportunity to explain what's going on with K-Image and myself, and with the job situation.
The company hasn't been forgotten. We've been talking about it more and more, actually. It's just that we're very slow. It happened like this:
1. Magnus comes up with the idea that we start a company. We agree that we might as well, since web design is what I want to do anyway, and no job offers had been on the horizon thus far, for either of us. This was last July or so.
2. We register a domain name, file papers with the govt, and talk to our tax people at the beginning of August. We do lots of work on business cards, logos, flyers and company sites. We look at the competition, we look at websites, we talk about what we want to do, who we should target, why we're special. We agree on our roles in the company. I am to be Head Honcho, Tech Devision. Magnus is to be Head Hocho, Marketing Division. He's one of the reasons we were set to succeed--he has a good understanding of design and he can do some coding/graphics, but mainly, he can talk to people. They like him. He can sell stuff. He can refrain from intimidating them with technobabble. It was to be an ideal setup. He gets the clients, I create the site, he gets the money from them.
3. This insurance company calls and wants to interview Magnus. We sort of postpone the company for a while, and then he gets the job and spends a week or two in training, and then starts going out selling insurance. We say that we'll put off any active marketing until he has time to make calls and talk to people.
4. By now it's November. Our anniversary and Thanksgiving, right at the same time. And then, guess what? Christmas. Shopping and festivities mean our free time is tied up until after New Year's.
5. We begin the year with renewed enthusiasm. We create a site for a local mandolin luthier. Magnus is applying for new jobs at full speed, as there is no money forthcoming from the insurance company. Then there was this realization that maybe if he applied for jobs as Christopher (middle name, Americanized) he might not stand out as quite so foreign. He got two interviews the same week (as opposed to one before that, with the insurance people). He started at Quantrell, and then we REALLY didn't have time for anything, as he didn't get home until 9 pm most of the time. We redo the company site, we register the .com domain and move hosting, we make new business cards.
6. Quit at Quantrell and started new job today. Meanwhile, the company is still there. We still talk about it. We still DO things. We just haven't started actively marketing it.
Now, many would wonder why, if we're not actively promoting ourselves, we're wasting time with it--specifically, why am I not working full time at something else? Well, you could say a few different things to that, but here is is, in a nutshell. I graduated at the wrong time with the wrong degree, with the wrong job experiences and in the wrong location. (Add this to not actively looking for a real job, due to working on the company, and you have a real winner of a way to not get a job.) I'm not making excuses here.. I'm sure I could have a job by now if we'd been working in that direction, and particularly if we'd been willing to drastically relocate. But we're not. We want this to work, and we're certainly not starving in the streets while we wait on it. Also, while I'm perfectly well aware that the perfect job might not come my way at first.. I didn't spend four years in college to flip burgers* unless I just have to. And.. we're simply not in the position that I have to at the moment, simple as that. Morehead is a lovely place.. job mecca it is not.
So.. the future. We're frankly not sure that the company will ever work out completely. We think it could, and we know that it should. We know that there are other people in similar situations making it work. We have super ideas, and we're excited about it. We just haven't gotten terribly far with it, but we're working on overcoming the obstacles (perhaps I'll write more about that later, but this entry is getting way too long, and we're going to go to bed very soon) and getting everything up and running.
Writing all this down has actually help some to clear my head and give me some direction. I believe I'll continue this tomorrow or sometime after all.
* Frying veggies is something entirely different, and I am doing that on a part-time basis. :) Concessions is different from fast food.
Anyway, that's not what I want to write about. What I want to write about is our lovely web design company. Yes, that's right, the one that we started almost a year ago and never went anywhere with. I'd like to take this opportunity to explain what's going on with K-Image and myself, and with the job situation.
The company hasn't been forgotten. We've been talking about it more and more, actually. It's just that we're very slow. It happened like this:
1. Magnus comes up with the idea that we start a company. We agree that we might as well, since web design is what I want to do anyway, and no job offers had been on the horizon thus far, for either of us. This was last July or so.
2. We register a domain name, file papers with the govt, and talk to our tax people at the beginning of August. We do lots of work on business cards, logos, flyers and company sites. We look at the competition, we look at websites, we talk about what we want to do, who we should target, why we're special. We agree on our roles in the company. I am to be Head Honcho, Tech Devision. Magnus is to be Head Hocho, Marketing Division. He's one of the reasons we were set to succeed--he has a good understanding of design and he can do some coding/graphics, but mainly, he can talk to people. They like him. He can sell stuff. He can refrain from intimidating them with technobabble. It was to be an ideal setup. He gets the clients, I create the site, he gets the money from them.
3. This insurance company calls and wants to interview Magnus. We sort of postpone the company for a while, and then he gets the job and spends a week or two in training, and then starts going out selling insurance. We say that we'll put off any active marketing until he has time to make calls and talk to people.
4. By now it's November. Our anniversary and Thanksgiving, right at the same time. And then, guess what? Christmas. Shopping and festivities mean our free time is tied up until after New Year's.
5. We begin the year with renewed enthusiasm. We create a site for a local mandolin luthier. Magnus is applying for new jobs at full speed, as there is no money forthcoming from the insurance company. Then there was this realization that maybe if he applied for jobs as Christopher (middle name, Americanized) he might not stand out as quite so foreign. He got two interviews the same week (as opposed to one before that, with the insurance people). He started at Quantrell, and then we REALLY didn't have time for anything, as he didn't get home until 9 pm most of the time. We redo the company site, we register the .com domain and move hosting, we make new business cards.
6. Quit at Quantrell and started new job today. Meanwhile, the company is still there. We still talk about it. We still DO things. We just haven't started actively marketing it.
Now, many would wonder why, if we're not actively promoting ourselves, we're wasting time with it--specifically, why am I not working full time at something else? Well, you could say a few different things to that, but here is is, in a nutshell. I graduated at the wrong time with the wrong degree, with the wrong job experiences and in the wrong location. (Add this to not actively looking for a real job, due to working on the company, and you have a real winner of a way to not get a job.) I'm not making excuses here.. I'm sure I could have a job by now if we'd been working in that direction, and particularly if we'd been willing to drastically relocate. But we're not. We want this to work, and we're certainly not starving in the streets while we wait on it. Also, while I'm perfectly well aware that the perfect job might not come my way at first.. I didn't spend four years in college to flip burgers* unless I just have to. And.. we're simply not in the position that I have to at the moment, simple as that. Morehead is a lovely place.. job mecca it is not.
So.. the future. We're frankly not sure that the company will ever work out completely. We think it could, and we know that it should. We know that there are other people in similar situations making it work. We have super ideas, and we're excited about it. We just haven't gotten terribly far with it, but we're working on overcoming the obstacles (perhaps I'll write more about that later, but this entry is getting way too long, and we're going to go to bed very soon) and getting everything up and running.
Writing all this down has actually help some to clear my head and give me some direction. I believe I'll continue this tomorrow or sometime after all.
* Frying veggies is something entirely different, and I am doing that on a part-time basis. :) Concessions is different from fast food.
