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The Lone Wolf
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Nineteen eighty-seven was a pivotal year for me. I left two corporations, miscarried a four-month pregnancy, filed for divorce, met my future husband and started my own marketing and public relations business, all at the same time.
When associates learned that I was preparing to leave the inner ranks of the corporate world, several approached me to form partnerships and/or agencies. I politely but firmly declined because, for the first time in my working life, I was going to have a little flexibility and I only wanted one person to answer to – me. I didn’t want to commute to an office at the crack of dawn in Atlanta’s horrendous rush-hour traffic; I didn’t want to be responsible for direct employees; I didn’t want anyone to assist me with decision-making. I wanted to be a lone wolf.
That’s not to say I shunned collaborative efforts at client sites. Just the opposite. In fact, I often became an integral member of the in-house marketing team, if there was one. Sometimes I served as an entire marketing department for smaller companies. Once they were ready to hire in-house, full-time employees, I assisted with the interviews, hiring and training and I continued to serve as outside counsel as long as they needed me.
I like being an outsider. Outsiders get more respect. One of my clients once said to me, “Why is it when I present a plan I’m an idiot and when you present the same plan you’re a genius?” “It’s because I’m an outsider,” I told him. I don’t know why but when a company pays an outsider for advice, they seem to have more confidence in the outcome.
I always had numerous requests to do contract work, even when I was working 80 hours a week for “the man.” So, when I decided to go out on my own, I had an immediate client base. I never took on more than I could service fully (usually four clients at a time). And I only took on clients that weren’t going to be a colossal pain in my ass.
If an organization wanted me to do something I had never done before, I would advise them of my inexperience and say, “If you are willing to give me the opportunity to do this job for you, I will give it my very best shot. If you don’t like the result, you don’t have to pay me.”
I learned what I was especially good at (anything that involved oral or written communications) and what I enjoyed doing most (ditto) and what I could do without (don’t ask!) – and I always got paid.
Because life was so complicated when I started my own business, I wanted to keep things as simple as possible. As I mentioned previously, that meant no legal partnerships, limited or otherwise. It also meant no office outside of my own home (except for the offices my clients provided me at their sites). And it meant no direct reports.
I did hire subcontractors on an ad hoc basis. I gave my clients the option of paying the subs directly or having me bill for their services with a 25% markup. I tried not to be out of pocket because some of the printing jobs were very pricey and, while my payment terms were typically Net 30, some companies didn’t pay that quickly. I did whatever I could to keep my overhead to a minimum.
I started (and ended) my business with a PC and a Mac, a printer, a fax machine, a telephone, an old-fashioned typewriter and access to the Internet. That was all I needed to conduct business with clients all over the world. And I worked out of my finished basement. I slid down a bannister and I was on the job.
Many of my clients were out-of-towners, but if a local client wanted a face-to-face meeting, I tried to set it up for between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. so I wouldn’t waste a monstrous amount of time mired in traffic. Sometimes, I was still working with overseas clients at 2 a.m. But if I wanted to run around the neighborhood for an hour at 9 a.m. or 9 p.m. or work in my jammies, I just did it. Ah, flexibility!
There might have been tax advantages to forming a subchapter S corporation, but I opted to be a sole proprietor. I secured an Employer ID Number, opened two Keogh accounts, which are tax-deferred pension plans for self-employed individuals, and religiously filed the requisite 5500 forms (which I hated like poison – thank God my father was a CPA).
I paid quarterly estimated taxes, took a home office deduction (until three years before I knew I was going to sell my house. Sometimes there are benefits to NOT claiming a portion of your house as office space. Speak to your CPA – the rules may have changed over the past several years). I kept very careful track of out-of-pocket expenses and business-related miles. And, if I were traveling on behalf of a client, I let them make and pay for the arrangements.
After more than 20 years, I moved to Santa Fe, NM where people offered me plenty of work if I were willing to work for free. So I shut down the business, turned the Keoghs into traditional IRAs and became a published author, photographer, artist, blogger and dancing fool.
I still have great relationships with many of my former clients. They are now my friends. Our entrepreneurial spirits have taken us elsewhere. We hang out together. We embrace when we meet. We don’t earn as much as we used to but life is richer. And simpler.
As the sole proprietor of a public relations and marketing business for many years, I was very happy to be asked to contribute to Christina Hamlett’s informative new book for sole proprietors, Office for One: The Sole Proprietor’s Survival Guide. Read all about it! https://www.createspace.com/5029312.
© Copyright 2017, Mindy Littman Holland. All rights reserved.