As a developer, there will be a point where you want to consider taking on side work, be it for beer money, as part of earning a few extra dollars when you’re between jobs, or you just do not want to work for “the man” any longer.
For most startups, whether they are a sole proprietor, LLC, or S-Corp, cash flow is always tight. What most early entrepreneurs do not understand is that your startup costs can be $100 or less.
Here’s what I did so far:
Domain
Everyone knows of GoDaddy for domain hosting. You can pickup a domain name for $10-15. Other domain name providers are available as well, including Google. You should sculpt your domain so that it is professional in nature, and that you would be comfortable using with a Fortune 100 company.
Your primary form of communication with clients will be email in most cases. I’m not saying avoid using gmail, but there are alternatives for $5/month which provide similar or better hosting options. If you really want to penny-pinch, then yes, gmail is a great option.
Website
Your website is going to be a great ad-copy for your consultancy. You can, pending you have a little bit of time to learn, use something like Hugo (what this site is written with) to create a static site.
To host the site, you can either spend money each month which you do not have, or you can host the site using something like GitHub pages, Azure Static Sites. The basic hosting for either provider is $0, and can be extended as needed for a few dollars once you have additional requirements.
Accounting
When I started to do consulting years ago, I went down the pipeline of “Ok, I’m consulting… I need to invoice and track funds… I need QuickBooks.” Since then, I did some searching to find a program called Manager.IO which is a basic accounting package, and runs on Windows/Mac/Linux vs. having to purchase a license for each platform (and QuickBooks does not even support Linux at this time)
Banking
Most consultancies, at least in the tech sector, are done online. You can handle your money the traditional way by heading to your local bank, opening an account, and move forward. Your other option is to use one of the online-only banks such as Bank Novo; American Express Bank; or Wise. Separating your business vs. personal expenses, even as a sole proprietor, makes good sense, so you can keep things, such as money earmarked for taxes, in place. Having an extra $20,000 sitting in your personal account gets really interesting when someone is looking over your accounts, and you need to explain where money is coming from/to. It is an audit nightmare.
I’ve worked with Bank Novo in its infancy, and had a great experience. The only issue was that, they were in their infancy, so there were growing pains that could not be avoided.
I am currently with American Express Bank, and have been since they first introduced their business banking option(s), and have been quite happy with their performance and service, given it is 100% over the phone.
For international work, Wise cannot be beat. There is nothing hidden from you on transaction fees, and from what colleages have told me, it’s worthwhile to utilize their service offering.
Business Cards
There are many online services, such as VistaPrint, 360 Online Print, etc. that you can acquire cards for ~$10-15 for a pack of 500.
Computer/Technology
Dependent on what you are going to consult on, you most likely have the essentials already (computer, printer, scanner, a few pens/pencils, paper, etc). If you don’t have any of the essentials, you’ll now break the $100 barrier, but can still do things more affordably by procuring equipment from sources such as FaceBook marketplace, or for a PC/Laptop specifically, looking at Dell’s Outlet where you can purchase new or gently used computers/laptops for a fraction of what you would pay “retail.”
I hope this gives you some bearing as you start down your entrepreneurial journey in the tech industry. If you have any questions/comments, please send me an email. I’d welcome the discussion, and possible improvement, of this document.