The reason for waiting until 2018 is to give me a year's time to prepare for taxes. Of course, there is a possibility that year one will be in the red, or not. Year one will primarily consist of laying the groundwork that will lead to sustainable business. By this I mean, I will need to be my own best customer to demonstrate what I can do for others. This is where this blog, related to Travel, Writing, and Money, will incur some business expenses. These activities (traveling, writing, and finance) become business expenses. As a media business, other purchases, such as microphones, cameras, computing devices, and more, also become business expenses. The plan here is not to finance a hobby. Rather, it is to generate revenue from what would otherwise be sunk personal costs.
This business is a long play. With any luck, it will be the first of many to come. I have a roadmap in mind on how I would like to grow in the coming years. Fear has prevented me from launching an LLC in years past. Recently, I have felt a calm sense that it is the right time to kick off the new enterprise. I am in the right place emotionally, financially, and socially.
Some of the preparation thus far has been thinking up a name for the business, the business model, and how to finance it. Concerning the last item, there will be some capitalization on my part. Also, I am exploring business credit cards or charge cards. These would be more of an expense buffer than actual financing. Then, there are also options such as advertising revenue and perhaps even a Patreon page.
Of course, not all is roses. There are some challenges to starting the business. First, there are the startup expenses of creating an LLC. Then, there is the added burden of bookkeeping and tracking tax information. There is also the major challenge of turning on the sales machine. It is vitally important to not fall back on lazy routines. In order to pay for travel and equipment, it is going to be necessary to hustle to generate revenue from video, podcast, and website production. In other words, if I must travel, it should be for more than pleasure. There should be some business to go along with it to pay for the travel.
2018 will be the year it all comes together.