In the last week or so I’ve taken the first halting steps toward setting up an on-line business. In reality it’s sort of several businesses. One is a self-publishing account on Amazon. Another is a creator’s account with a photo products sales site. And finally, there is an account with a custom photobook seller.
But of course, it’s an enormous amount of bother. One place requires a PayPal account and I had let my account lapse this year so now I have to open a new one. Then I have to figure out how to pay my taxes on time and whether I should incorporate and whether I should do that myself or pay a lawyer. I also have to figure out how to advertise my products. Of course, Orion’s Cold Fire will be central to my marketing plan. I’ll add links to the store fronts and shamelessly hawk my wares whenever an unsuspecting reader comes looking for political commentary or brilliant movie and book reviews.
What I’ve discovered is that all this business stuff is frightfully distracting from the stuff I like to do, namely take pictures and write stuff. But what is also true is that participating in some kind of business of your own is very exciting. What it requires is disciplining yourself; becoming your own boss. And for someone like me that is extremely challenging. I have always been the worst employee anywhere I worked. I find it extremely difficult to work in a manner that doesn’t seem logical to me. So, if a company tried to get the engineers to perform regulatory clerical functions (that is, validation) my eyes would glaze over and my output would slowdown to a crawl. Eventually they would be forced to provide me with an assistant who could perform the requisite paperwork handwaving to satisfy the FDA that we didn’t add Ebola virus to the batch by using the equipment I had designed, purchased and installed using good engineering practices, which I saw as my proper function.
So now it will be necessary for me to convince … me(!) that I should perform all the clerical and bookkeeping and sales and marketing handwaving that is necessary to make money in a business. I have to confess that I’ve already had a few discouraging moments as I realized how many hoops I’ll have to jump through to coordinate all the various requirements needed to transact business in a businesslike manner. I would much prefer just winging it and paying for my mistakes as I go along but hard experience has shown me that that can be awfully expensive. The IRS really has no sense of humor at all.
As I embark on this journey of discovery, I find myself full of unbridled enthusiasm and unwarranted optimism. I’m sure reality will quickly rein in my naïve ebullience and after being knocked around by cruel fate I will reach the correct mind set of all proper businessmen, callous cynicism and calculated misanthropy.
So, consider this your fair warning. When links appear to lure you to my commercial products don’t be fooled into thinking they represent anything other than what they are; crass commercialism and the single-minded pursuit of the almighty dollar. Come to think of it, after the fiasco with Russia, it’s not so almighty anymore. But you get the picture. Caveat emptor!