Jenny Taira

Well, here it goes, my first attempt at starting my own business!  Even though I technically launched Studio Cloud Nine back in September 2008, it really feels like I’ve only officially begun as of a couple weeks ago, with the official launch of this site.  It took me a year to really get this together–in all honesty, Studio Cloud Nine had been sort of on the back burner last year–partially due to the time spent working on one of my big musical projects, Musique a la Mode Chamber Music Ensemble (if you like classical/new/experimental music, check it out!), but mostly due to my own fear of failure (those constant inner voices battling the notorious “Should I or Shouldn’t I? CAN I? What if I just plain suck?”) leaving me straddled, sort of doing it, and sort of not (meanwhile being unemployed, might I add). However, as time went on (and my savings began to dwindle), I soon realized that without a real commitment and decision to put everything I had into Studio Cloud Nine–irregardless of how “good” of a designer I was, it would NEVER thrive.  As that old saying goes, “it’s better to try and fail than to have never tried at all”–well, I finally decided to take that bit of advice, take a leap of faith, and just do it.  So here I am, my first blog entry on Studio Cloud Nine’s website.  I am actually not exactly sure yet of the direction of this blog, but I figure that for now I will blog just about anything that comes to mind on my journey as an entrepreneur.

Actually, once I made the decision to really “start” my business, it was very simple, in terms of paperwork.  I was able to get my business registered as a Sole Proprietorship for $100 at the New York County Clerk’s Office.  I went there in person on a Wednesday at around 4pm, and was out of there in about fifteen minutes.  The next day, I took my Official Business Certificate to Wachovia Bank, and opened up my free business checking account.  I went home soon after and opened up paypal accounts and started putting together my business website.

The business website is actually what took the longest, because I realized that before I could build it, I actually had to really come up with a business and marketing plan that would work for both customers and for Studio Cloud Nine.  Up until this point, I had pretty much been doing websites and flyers for friends and family, and having them pay whatever they wanted to pay me.  I knew if I was going to run a successful business, I would have to come up with a price plan.  This is what probably took the longest.  I did a lot of research on the web on other similar companies, what seemed to be popular, and also considered my past experiences working with clients–both positive and negative aspects–in creating my plan.

So now, the website is launched, and my business is ready for business–my challenge is just finding the clients!!  Any suggestions?