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Posted 7/8/2009 by PeterV, VP, Marketing
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Especially if you're in your company's wrapped vehicle! Gives you the best exposure that way.
Thanks to Pete Bernardo for the find!
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Posted 4/2/2009 by PeterV, VP, Marketing
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It's always nice when someone writes something nice about you and you don't even know it. That was the case recently for us. A client tipped us off to a brief writeup in Web Designer Magazine, a UK-based publication also available in the US at places like Barnes and Nobles. I'd submitted some info months back , and I guess they liked what I had to say!
They published a Hot 100 list of cool sites, new technologies, industry experts, etc. We were actually mentioned three times on the list! I was originally asked what we saw as an emerging technology for 2009. I mentioned Microsoft Silverlight and its benefits, and here's what ran in the magazine (numbers 9, 50, and 56):
Thanks to our PR firm, PR20/20, for their help in this!
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Posted 12/12/2008 by Declan, Acct Mgr
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So I thought about the type of company Structure that would be the right choice for my new company, and after some research and consultation from my lawyer (David A. Antonelli) I have decided the company structure will be a LLC “Limited Liability Company”.
What is a LLC?
· A limited liability company (abbreviated L.L.C. or LLC), is a hybrid business entity having characteristics of both a corporation (Limited Liability) and a partnership (pass-through income tax). It is often more flexible, the owners have limited liability for the actions and debts of the company, and it is suitable for smaller companies with a single owner.
· Owners of an LLC are called members. Since most states do not restrict ownership, members may include individuals, corporations, other LLCs and foreign entities. There is no maximum number of members. Most states also permit “single member” LLCs, those having only one owner.
· A few types of businesses generally cannot be LLCs, such as banks and insurance companies.
· LLC owners report their share of business profit and loss on their personal tax returns.
· Forming an LLC can help you separate yourself from your business, protecting your personal assets in the event of a judgment against the company. All 50 states and the District of Columbia now recognize this popular business type.
· Owners do not need to be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
What are the next steps? -- Choosing a Name for Your LLC
The name of your LLC must comply with the rules of your state's LLC division
· The name cannot be the same as the name of another LLC on file with the LLC office.
· The name must end with an LLC designator, such as "Limited Liability Company" or "Limited Company," or an abbreviation of one of these phrases (such as "LLC," "L.L.C.," or "Ltd. Liability Co.")
· The name cannot include certain words prohibited by the state, such as Bank, Insurance, Corporation or City (state rules differ on which words are prohibited).
· Your state's LLC office can tell you how to find out whether your proposed name is available for your use.
· Besides following your state's LLC naming rules, you must make sure your name won't violate another company's trademark
To see if your proposed name is unique, you can search Michigan’s name database.
Filing Articles of Organization
· After settling on a name, you must prepare and file "articles of organization" with your state's LLC filing office. While most states use the term "articles of organization" to refer to the basic document required to create an LLC, some states use the term "certificate of formation" or "certificate of organization."
· Articles of organization are short, simple documents. Typically, you must provide only your LLC's name, its address, and sometimes the names of all of the owners -- called members. Generally, all of the LLC owners may prepare and sign the articles, or they can appoint just one person to do so.
Registered Agent
· You will probably also be required to list the name and address of a person -- usually one of the LLC members -- who will act as your LLC's "registered agent," or "agent for service of process." Your agent is the person who will receive legal papers in any future lawsuit involving your LLC.
Creating an LLC Operating Agreement
Even though operating agreements need not be filed with the LLC filing office and are rarely required by state law, it is essential that you create one. In an LLC operating agreement, you set out rules for the ownership and operation of the business (much like a partnership agreement or corporate bylaws). A typical operating agreement includes:
· the members' percentage interests in the business
· the members' rights and responsibilities
· the members' voting power
· how profits and losses will be allocated
· how the LLC will be managed
· rules for holding meetings and taking votes,
· "buy-sell" provisions, which establish rules for what happens if a member wants to sell his or her interest, dies, or becomes disabled.
Licenses and Permits
After you've completed the steps described above, your LLC is official. But before you open your doors for business, you need to obtain the licenses and permits that all new businesses must have to operate. These may include a business license (sometimes also referred to as a "tax registration certificate"), a federal employer identification number, a sellers' permit, or a zoning permit.
Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)
The EIN is the corporate equivalent to a Social Security Number, EIN is a unique nine-digit number assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to business entities operating in the United States for the purposes of identification. When the number is used for identification rather than employment tax reporting, it is usually referred to as a TIN, and when used for the purposes of reporting employment taxes, it is usually referred to as an EIN.https://sa2.www4.irs.gov/modiein/individual/index.jsp .
I have reviewed the Michigan.gov website by myself and it is not really helpful to a person with limited knowledge, I found a bunch of forms but to be honest I am not 100% sure if I need to fill them all out or just some of them, I am assuming that I need to fill out
· 540 - RESERVATION OF NAME
· 701 - ARTICLES OF ORGANIZATION (PROFESSIONAL SERVICE LLC)
DIY Approach
I have reviewed a few of the DIY company set up websites such as…
· www.LegalZoom.com
· www.Incorporate.com
· www.LLC.com
…and to be honest they look fine, and I assume they will do the job, but I want it done right, and I like the feeling of interaction with a real life law professional, so I am working with David A. Antonelli. David is an Attorney at Law, who specializes in business Law. David will verify the correct forms I need to fill out, along with answering any questions that I have when filling them out.
David Antonelli emailed me and offered some important information…
“As I mentioned the other day, corporation, partnerships, llc’s and other entity forms are creatures of state government. The decision to pick the state of organization will vary on a case by case basis, considering such things as where the principals & business operations are to be located, tax treatment, regulatory regime, etc. If the entity will conduct business outside its state of organization then, generally, the entity will need to be qualified in such other state(s) as a “foreign corporation”). The decision of where to organize and/or qualify the entity to do business should be discussed with an attorney (not to give us more work, but to make sure the principals make good decisions). Initial organization and qualification to do business (as a foreign corporation) is generally achieved by filing “Articles of Organization” (in the case of a LLC), by an “Application for Registration to Transact Business” (for foreign entity registration), or by other similar – type filings. Each state has their own filings.
Once organized, the entity will need to register to do business with the state, identify itself as an employer (if applicable), etc. In Michigan (and I believe in the other states), there is a separate set of forms for this purposes.
A new entity, wherever organized, will also need a Federal Tax Identification Number (or FEIN). This is accomplished by filing with the US Internal Revenue Service.
Other things to consider when setting up a new business include insurance, capital requirements, systems requirements, etc. Decisions about whether the entity will employ persons will also need to be addressed at the time of formation / registration.
Hope this helps you move forward. As you know, the foregoing is no more than a general overview. You should discuss these matters with me before making any decisions, creating a new entity, etc.”
So now I know the correct forms I need to get started with…
Misc MI Business Entity Forms
http://www.michigan.gov/businessstartup/0,1607,7-152-9738_12949---,00.html
Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) Online
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0%2C%2Cid%3D102767%2C00.html
… furthermore, without David’s guidance and knowledge I would still be trying to find the correct forms.
Parting note for stage 2
The process of setting up a new company is not easy, I am equating it to developing a custom website, without the proper guidance of a professional that knows exactly what they are doing, you will get lost every quickly, and will most likely over look some items that could come back and haunt you in the future. For this stage I would strongly suggest getting a business lawyer like David Antonelli to help you.
Step 3 “What type of business will I run” is the next step I will encounter, please look out for it.
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Posted 12/11/2008 by Geoff, Pres/CEO
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A few days ago I posted about our successful "Shrimp and Weenies" marketing campaign at the recent Microsoft MSVP Digital Marketing Vendor Fair. If you missed it, you can read that post here.
I also wanted to share a few photos from of our new trade show display that we used to support this campaign. One of our Senior Designers, Tim Pratt, design the display under the direction of Peter VanRysdam, our VP of Marketing. You can see the shrimp placed around the shrimp bowl on the table. Nice touch!
As you can see, the booth looks great... thanks to Tim and Peter for their great work and creative talents!
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Posted 12/8/2008 by Geoff, Pres/CEO
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If you are familiar with Microsoft lore, you may have heard of the famous "Shrimp and Weenies" memo that was distributed to Microsoft employees in the early 1990s. The memo makes the point that Microsoft party planners should serve weenies instead of shrimp at parties, because they are less expensive but achieve the same effect. The point carries over to all Microsoft employees, encouraging them to select weenies over shrimp and thus achieve more with less.
As one of Microsoft's MSVP vendors, last month our company had the opportunity to exhibit at Microsoft's Digital Vendor Fair. We were exhibiting alongside other MSVP Digital Vendors, which means some of our competition was there. Also, Microsoft's very large agencies of record were exhibiting. They do great work, but they are very expensive and only handle large projects for Microsoft.
Peter VanRysdam, our Vice President of Marketing, was intent on finding a way to make our company stand out from the other exhibitors. Peter came up with the great idea of using Microsoft's own "Shrimp and Weenies" concept to promote what makes us better, which is the fact that we are more flexible and less expensive than Microsoft's large agencies of record, while still producing excellent work.
So what would a trade show be without some swag? Here was ours:
The shrimp read, "352 Media Group provides Microsoft with Shrimp... on a Weenie Budget!"
They were a huge hit and the show went great! Thanks to Peter and our team for making it happen!
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Posted 8/22/2008 by Declan, Acct Mgr
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I currently manage a few of our International clients from countries such as Ireland, England, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. We have proven that we can attract International clients and work successfully with their web teams to launch great products. This shows that time zones and language barriers are not a factor when a company wants true quality and the job done right! I credit this International attraction to our “Success Starts with Strategy™" process and how we tackle our custom web development projects, coupled with the knowledge and professionalism of our staff.
With our recent launch of LogoYes in Japan, now I have the pleasure of adding Japan to the list of our International client countries!
The Japanese site is live at http://www.logoyes.co.jp/
Logoyes Japan Homepage
We took the American English language site at http://www.logoyes.com/ and translated it to Japanese. However, this was much more than a simple translation. The Japanese character set is much different than the American English character set, so we had to build in special support for Japanese characters and fonts. This was particularly challenging, because the Logoyes Flash application gives users the ability to create and edit business cards, so we had to restructure all of the editing controls to support the Japanese fonts and font sizes. Because of the large file sizes of Japanese fonts (due to the complexity of their characters), we installed a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to speed up the load time of the application worldwide.
Logo Creater Step 1
Additionally, Japanese design and layout styles are somewhat different than American styles, so we made changes to the layout of several interface screens so they were more appropriate for the Japanese market. Additionally, the standard size and layout of business cards in Japan is different than those in the U.S., so we had to change all of the business card templates to accommodate the Japanese market. Finally, we changed the way the checkout process works to interface with Japanese credit card processors.
Thanks the our team for their incredible hard work over the past few months, which include
Project Managers
Dana McPherson
Geoff Wilson
Lead Designer
Lincoln Anderson
Lead Programmer
Evol Greaves
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Posted 7/30/2008 by PeterV, VP, Marketing
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There's no question our sales people have some of the coolest business cards around (See Prior Post: Our Business Cards Are Changing Lives), but now we have great cards for everyone else too, thanks to a great online printer I found (well, actually they found us) called www.4colorprint.com.
While our cube cards are an awesome conversation piece, they cost an arm and a leg to print. We needed to come up with another option that was as unique but less expensive for all of our other customer-facing staffs' cards.
In a rare case of direct mail working, we got a mailer from www.4colorprint.com with some samples of their SilkCards business cards. Clicking on the link to the product will give you some good info, but you can't get the full experience unless you touch them. I don't know if its the kind of paper or how they treat it, but it literally feels like you're holding paper made from silk.
As an added benefit, they're tear and water resistant. So, if you ever find yourself hanging from a cliff by your business card in a monsoon, you'll be good to go.
What I love most about 4colorprint are their prices. We're talking 500 cards with 4 color printing on both sides for under $100. Very nice. They've been a great vendor of ours, and I really encourage you to check them out if you need a reliable high quality printer for a great price.
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Posted 7/15/2008 by Geoff, Pres/CEO
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I was asked the other day to give a speech to an Entrepreneurship class at the University of Florida about starting a business. While getting some notes together, I came across the video that Will Bisanz and I put together back in 2003 showing the opening our of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Scoop Shops in Gainesville, Florida. As I have mentioned on this blog before, I live a secret life as an ice cream scooper! Actually, the Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops are a small side venture compared to 352 Media, but they are fun nonetheless!
The video is pretty funny and certainly brings back some memories. Take a look:
P.S. -- My favorite Ben & Jerry's flavor? New York Super Fudge Chunk! Yummy!!
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Posted 5/6/2008 by PeterV, VP, Marketing
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We already had a staff meeting planned for the sixth, so we thought we'd make our own holiday. I mean, most of Mexico doesn't celebrate Cinco de Mayo, so why should we? We had fajitas, a sombrero, and a pinata decorated to look like the boss. What could go wrong?
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Posted 4/16/2008 by Evan, Tech Analyst
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The fine folks at 352 Media Group have always created some of the most innovative Web projects out there. From the Silverlight candidate filter, to the American Express travel sites, to the creative stylings over at LogoYes, it is some amazing work. A funny thing about Web sites though... they don't host themselves. While those projects have a developer in common, they are also all hosted with a friend of ours.
352 Media Group has always understood that different clients have different projects and different projects come with different hosting requirements. When the site can't afford to be down for even a moment... when a force of nature comes knocking at your door... when it absolutely has to be there... FedEx we start talking to Rackspace.
We've had a very long relationship with Rackspace and while not every project is going to need redundant connections nine times over and 24/7 monitoring by a crack team of specialist who are hunkered down in a bunker that rivals a military installation, it's nice to know the option is out there. We like them so much, we host our own site, our email, and even our blog there (you're reading it now).
Now as with everything, we are here to help our clients make informed decisions. Hosting with Rackspace isn't always going to make sense, and we have plenty of other suggestions based on the needs of the project. But, if you find yourself thinking about who to host with let us know or give our friends at Rackspace a shout.
It gives me great pleasure to think about all my little emails running in and out of a concrete box somewhere in Texas. I don't know why.
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