Good news! Just like building a business starts at the beginning and moves forward one step at a time, so too does building a "Building a Business" group. I've got the second video uploaded, so go check it out. It's all about taking those one-time steps every business needs to get done so that they don't interrupt your flow, growth or progress later on. I'd love some feedback so that I can continue giving you the best, most actionable advice possible. Let's get it!

There are some steps in business that you only have to do once. Marketing? Forever. Building? Neverending. Sales? Stop and you die. But some things in the beginning you can get done, check off your list, and never really have to deal with it again. Today's progress has to do with some of those steps. I officially started my LLC and got my EIN (Employer Identification Number - sort of like a Social Security Number for businesses). It cost me about $300 (In Tennessee) for the LLC, and $0 for the EIN. Arcade Everywhere, LLC now officially exists. I'm legit! Of course, now I'll have to do a bit of bookkeeping and file a few extra reports each year, but that's not too big of a headache. Note: I did hear about something called a BOI report (Beneficial Ownership Information) that needs to be filed to declare anyone who has an ownership interest in a company or I'd face a hefty fine of $500 per DAY it went unfiled (Yikes!). It was required by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to sort of suss out foreign-owned entities in the USA, but apparently it has run it's course now, as it has been officially un-required. Back to business. I chose to go ahead and start the LLC only because of the nature of the business I'm starting. It will involve people physically doing things and interacting with things I've built. Therefore, there is the chance that someone could somehow get hurt in the process. And in today's overly-litigious society, that leaves me open to lawsuits and such. (Hopefully it never happens, but I want to be prepared early just in case.) One of the primary benefits of creating an LLC is that it separates what I own and what the business owns. So, if someone does ever sue me, they can't take my house, cars, bank accounts, investments, etc. You may be perfectly okay starting as a Sole Proprietor initially and only choose to form an LLC later on, once your business takes off. That's entirely up to you. I'm no attorney, or tax advisor, or any other title that qualifies me to give legal or tax advice, so you should consult with one yourself to get advice on exactly what to do and when. I did.

So now that I've had a couple of days to sit with the idea of building a mobile physical gaming experience business, my creative side is racing all over the place with game ideas, props, and other ways to bring the business to life. I have designed a slew of games on paper, and have begun making preparations to actually start building them. I have come up with some rather ambitious projects to serve as "anchor experiences" for the business packages I will ultimately sell to customers. The ideas so far include: - A collection of Carnival-style games - a modular 9- and 18-hole mini golf course - an "American Ninja Warrior" style series of obstacles to challenge various age groups - a trailer built out as a mobile escape room, which will change themes regularly (monthly?) In short, I've got a lot of building to do in the coming months (I'll have to roll many of these things out as I add them). I've also started brainstorming how I might present this experience to the world, and I think this is both the intimidating and the exciting part. I plan on doing exactly what Alex Hormozi suggests for a "Level 0" business. Since I have no products, no customers, no marketing and no sales, all that is left is for me to give it away for free. I will be offering free mobile play experiences to 10-12 customers for free, but that doesn't mean I'm not getting anything out of it... I'm looking to offer these freebies to a variety of customer avatars, including: - Birthday parties - School events - Church events - Company events - Adult get-togethers - Bars/restaurants with open outdoor areas - HOA/neighborhood block parties - Community fairs/festivals By letting a variety of customers take advantage of my free events, I'm getting feedback from a variety of customer types, getting valuable exposure to these different avatars, learning what works (or doesn't) in these different event types, and collecting a ton of different photos/videos/testimonials that will make their ways into future marketing materials.

Now that I have a loose idea of what I would like my business to be, it's time to figure out what to call it. I want a name that is somewhat descriptive, a little fun, and very importantly, is available across all platforms I will be a part of. A website. Gmail. Facebook. Instagram. YouTube. Pinterest. X. The first step is to sit down and brainstorm a bunch of names. This is stream of thought mode. I'll go through a hundred ideas before finding those that I really like. Then many of those will be abandoned because I just can't get the social media handles or website URL. I even have to check the names against other businesses to make sure I don't violate any sorts of copyright laws or even just risk getting our two brands confused with one another. After jotting down as many names as I could think of, I fed the results into Chat GPT and had it continue the name generation for me. I ended up with quite a long list. So I set out checking social media and web domains for availability, and, as I suspected, most of my first choices were unuseable, so I moved on down the list. Here are a couple of resources to help you evaluate your own business names: - copyright.gov - check with the Library of Congress for any name or identity conflicts, learn about copyright law. - brandsnag.com - enter your name and see if it is available across all platforms and domains. After filtering through a bunch of names, I settled on one that wasn't my first choice (obviously), but I think fits nicely. Arcade Everywhere (I would have preferred Arcade Anywhere, but it is being used.) I went ahead and locked in all the socials and domain by starting new accounts on all platforms. NOTE: I did have to slightly modify the name in a couple places, but it's not a huge deal. Here's where I ran into one of my first problems. I know, already? In an effort to save literally $8, I registered the domain name on GoDaddy.com rather than the hosting platform I will be using (Squarespace). I did not know this at the time, but you have to wait 60 days before you can transfer a newly purchased domain from the original registrar to your hosting platform. So I saved $8, but I now have to wait 60 days before I can actually launch a website. Not worth it. (I can still start building it once I get to that point, however.)

So here is what I've come up with for my own business idea. After all my research, skill and desire consideration, and business goals, I've settled on something that is not so much of a woodworking business anymore, but something that allows me to use the woodworking skills and equipment I already have. I am starting a mobile party rental business. So here's how I envision this working: On top of the marquee letters and props I already have, I will be building a large collection of portable games that will bring a new level of physical activity and fun to any birthday party, block party, community festival, holiday celebration, school or church event, or any other gathering of people. All the things people typically GO OUT to do, I will deliver. Think large-scale games like Jenga, Connect 4, chess and Kerplunk. Think carnival style games like skee-ball, and snake pit. Think of a portable Mini-golf course or Obstacle course (American Ninja Warrior style). Bowling lanes. I can re-package and sell them to corporate HR managers as team-building activities for their employees. I can constantly innovate by building an ever-expanding lineup of games and activities that will bring any social event to another level. I can help drag people away from their screens and get them back on their feet for some physical fun for a change. Customers can choose the type of experience they want, and I'll bring it to them, fully automated. We'll deliver and setup the activities, maybe even have a staff member to emcee and lead participants through the fun. We break it all down at take it back with us after the event. The customer gets to sit back and enjoy the fun without the stress of organizing and managing the entire event themselves. We'll handle that. Sounds like that alone could be worth whatever price I ultimately charge, eh? Again, this is ME, not necessarily YOU. This is what gets ME excited to go to work every day, but it may sound awful to you. That is the beauty of this process - we each get to figure out exactly what we want out of life and out of our business, and we GO AFTER IT!