ProfessionalGFX Website Development Business Updates

Written by Chris on June 30, 2008 – 10:27 am -

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Wrapping up projects seems to be the theme with my website design clients lately. I have been very close to finishing up two project this week and then there is an “oh one more thing” email…yet it is never just one more thing. So, knowing when to say “OK, enough is enough. No more revisions can be done at this point” is about where I am at. This is a hard spot to determine what is too much or too little but you need to determine that point, otherwise your clients will walk all over you.

So, right now, I am working on things for two clients. I am looking to wrap them up in the next week to two weeks and get paid. If I can do this, I will be happy! That will also allow for me to start slowly searching for new clients to work with and also try to get referrals from my current clients.

With that all being said, I have been looking up information on outsourcing design work to assistants in India, Canada, and other countries to free up my time with future clients. I have also been recommended the main different services out there that will convert your PSD files to valid code such as HTML, CSS, etc. This may be a good way to go too! I have also been talking with other bloggers and web developers out there such as Ellis Benus who has started using similar services and has had good results.

Besides, this, there is not a whole lot going on at this side of things. I just have not had as much time to focus on this venture as I would like because I know it is the one that can generate the most income for me in the least amount of time. My goal is reach $10,000 worth of income by the new year through web design related tasks (including designing, updating, hosting, etc). To reach this goal would prove the viability of the venture and also the opportunity to get out of the rat race and be on my own.

Tags: goals, professionalgfx, professionalgfx.net, Web Development, website development
Posted in Business Ideas, Project Updates, Web Development | 1 Comment »

Met with an accountant yesterday; here are some of my thoughts!

Written by Chris on May 20, 2008 – 10:00 am -

Sunday I blogged that I was going to be meeting with an accountant and listed a few questions that I was going to ask him to dive deeper into the realms of setting up a business entity, such as an LLC or a C corp. The basis for the meeting was because with the amount of money that I had been bringing in recently from ebay and my website development business, there was some money that was not being reported as income and instead was just being deposited and not being accounted for. So there were some worries about the possibility of getting audited or having different problems with paying state taxes.

So, I wanted to learn more about my options, discuss my ventures, and see what may be the best idea for me as an entrepreneur. Now, before I go any further, I want to STRESS that this is advice that was given to ME and is specific to my case. That being said, it is always best to get your own advice from a certified professional such as an accountant or lawyer or both! So, with that, I am going to just talk about some of my different options, the answers to some of the questions that I asked, and what the future holds for how I do business. Read more »

Tags: accountant, accounting, blog income, business entity, business structures, c corp, eBay, incorporating, llc, professionalgfx, radford auctions, s corp, tax deductions
Posted in Blogging, Business Ideas, Entrepreneurship, Money Management, Web Development, Website Updates / News, eBay | 6 Comments »

ProfessionalGFX Secures New Website Design Client in Ellicott City, MD

Written by Chris on May 8, 2008 – 7:00 pm -

ProfessionalGFX Secures New Website Design Client in Ellicott City, MD

I am happy to announce that my web design business, ProfessionalGFX, has secured a new client in the Ellicott City, MD area. This is a great accomplishment for ProfessionalGFX because this is the first time that I have heard from a potential client that they found my website through the search engines. And the other good news is that apparently out of all the companies that he contacted, I was the quickest to respond – and yet it took me two days to get back to him. So, it sounds like to me, even though there are other companies and businesses in the immediate area that are offering the same services as I, I seem to have the upper hand on them just by being able to respond semi quickly.

The scope of services are going to be pretty basic by outfitting the current website with a completely new design, a couple more pages, and some new images. I will also work in some keywords and a few other SEO strategies. My client is in the industrial chemical cleaning business, so most of his clients are from referrals and not finding him directly on the internet. The business is very face to face as far as interaction goes, so displaying basic information about the business, the industry, and his niches will be enough to get someone interested in picking up the phone – rather than displaying a full line of products or having the opportunity to purchase online.

I am waiting to get the contract and down payment from the client and we should be getting started next week. With luck, I will be able to wrap everything up in the middle of June.

This new client will definitely be a boost to my new method of savings that I wrote about the other day!

As we go along with the process more and move towards wrapping it up, I will be posting more about what different tactics are implemented to help his business out.

If you are looking for a low cost and effective web design service in the Ellicott City, MD, Baltimore, MD or Washington D.C. area, feel free to get in touch with me to discuss your project!

Tags: professionalgfx, professionalgfx.net, web design business
Posted in Project Updates, Web Development, Website Updates / News | No Comments »

Spring Break Is Finally Here!

Written by Chris on March 7, 2008 – 8:56 pm -

It has been a bit slow here at Dorm Room Biz because of school working creeping up and ripping my head off. No seriously - my face is gone. Anyway….

Spring break is finally here! I leave tomorrow for a cruise and am super excited. So, to catch up things over the last week or so, here are some updates of what I have been up to and doing.

eBay Business
January and February were pretty decent months for my eBay venture - I did about $500 in sales each month. I don’t know the exact profit right now, but it should turn out pretty decent. I am looking to continue to expanding my product offering through a drop shipper that I am linked with. When I return from my break, I am going to be trying to list at least 5 new items in my eBay store a day so that I can get up to around 150 items just in my store and then continue to list items in the regular auction format. Increasing my product offering the in store will hopefully generate more sales. I have the ability to make a pretty decent profit off of the products offered by the drop shipping company that I use, so if I can start moving them more and more, sales will shoot right up. I also surpassed the 550 mark with positive feedbacks which is a great accomplishment. My ultimate goal is to reach 1200 by the end of 2008. Once I move home from school, I don’t think that will take too long.

ProfessionalGFX Website Development
After finishing up my latest project this week with Main Street Radford, I am going to be taking a break from accepting any new clients for my website development business. Basically, I do not have the time to currently focus on it and I need to be able to focus more energy and time on my last couple months of college. Without taking a new clients, that leaves me with about 6 current clients that I help out every now and then with small things and then also have one project that is going on right now. Look out for some more updates about that later on.

New Outdoor Gear Website Coming Soon!
As many of you know, I am very much into the outdoors and outdoor activities - camping, hiking, rock climbing, canoing, etc. With that, I am going to be relaunching a site I had created a couple years back into a new and better format. The site will be launching when I return from my stint without a constant internet connection this week. Already without much information on it and very little advertising, it is seeing some traffic and some AdSesnce revenue. This site just being active and live is what pushed me over to getting another AdSense check.

Spring Break Cruise!
Like I mentioned, I will be leaving for a week long cruise Saturday and won’t be back until the following Saturday. I am going to probably have my laptop with me on the cruise, yet we will not have any internet unless we use the ships internet cafe. I am going to attempt to write a couple posts in the evenings or something while sailing and try to get on a computer to post them during the week. We depart from Charleston, SC and will be headed to Cozumel, Grand Cayman Islands, and Key West, FL; then back to South Carolina to come back home. I will definitely have a follow up post as well as a bunch of pictures to share when I return!

For all of you other students and entrepreneurs that are going to be going on Spring Break this week, whatever you are doing, be safe and have fun!

Talk to all of you in a week!

Tags: cozumel, cruise, grand caymon, key west, professionalgfx, spring break 2008, thegearhouse
Posted in Blogging, Website Updates / News, eBay | No Comments »