Business Developments

Some business developments today. :) First I met with a councilor at JMU's Small Business Development Center at 10:00. The meeting lasted for around an hour and was much more helpful than I had anticipated. Most of the discussion was about accounting software, tax considerations and start-up business stuff (like trade names, DBA, and local ordinances). Enough to make my head swim. I've got a long to-do list now.

Second, my postcard order came from Overnight Prints. It actually looks pretty decent! That means I need to go ahead and purchase that list from Agency Access that I made some time back and get some blank slicker label pages.

Third, I purchased the domain names: laura-diehl.com, ldiehl-illustration.com, and lauradiehl-illustration.com ...all to be parked to my main ldiehl.com domain name. I feel for $10 a piece this is a worthy investment.

Turbulent Clouds

I've been busy with business. I made an appointment to meet with a councilor at the Shenandoah Valley Small Business Development Center. I hope to get some recommendations on tax/accounting issues as well as applicable laws for my freelance business. I also went ahead and ordered a bunch of new equipment for my desk redesign in progress, including a nicely priced OEM bundle of the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 and Microsoft 3000 Comfort Mouse, black gel-pads for my chair's arm rests, and sliders for the desk. I also canceled the Amazon order for that Skype Polycom Communicator (as it has been 5 days and it was still not shipped) and placed an order with PC Nation instead. With 3-Day FedEx shipping they are still $2.00 cheaper, and I get the feeling I might actually get the item.

The current illustration is moving along pretty well too. I worked mainly on the background today. I hope to work on the middle ground (the harbor and city) tomorrow.