June 11, 2004 | View Comments (40) | Category: Web Business
Summary: Business Logs launches. Nuff said.
It finally has happened. Business Logs launches and I couldn't be more excited. I wrote before on the one good thing about working in a corporate environment (besides the benefits) was that you get to interact with others and now I have that back again.
The past few weeks working with Matthew and Mike have been very interesting to say the least. Life is much easier when you have a designer who is more than willing to try almost anything and another partner who is there to help guide the process.
Yep, it's another blog. Nothing special. The reason for the blog format was because we are advocating the use of them in organizations and if we ourselves can't prove to make a successful one, what right do we have in suggesting others use them? Just because your site has a blog does not mean that it has to look like a blog site. Stopdesign is the latest example of that.
However, after playing with different layouts we found that the two column layout worked best for what our goals were regarding the site. I am happy with it. Mike is happy with it. Matthew is happy with it.
The content will obviously be more business focused so if you are interested in advertising, branding, knowledge management and other such topics then more than likely you will be interested in what Business Logs offers. Knowing me I will be spending lots of time over there, but that shouldn't effect the development of any of the sites in the 9rules Network. Just means I have another playground to play on.
All in all I am very excited to finally get this venture off the ground. I would like to congratulate Mike and Matthew for having to deal with me and willing to continue to deal with me for the very long future.
Trackback URL: http://9rules.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/263
Congrats man! The network keeps growing. Now where is the sex site to put you up in the Denton League?! ;-)
I kid, I kid!
Sunny
Veeery nice - liking the v. subtle body background, and that Whitepaper boxout really pops.
The summary thing at the top was doing odd things when I first went on, but now it's changed, so I guess you're making changes still.
Matt
Hey Matt, yeah we're sneaky with changes like that :) Looks good now? Sweet.
Always a work in progress my man.
Mike Rundle (http://www.businesslogs.com)
It's all about iteration. Can't be afraid to take the first step. :)
Matthew Oliphant (http://usabilityworks.typepad.com)
Hey Paul,
Did you design that yourself? Did you do the coding, or just provide the content? I am sure its a hybrid of all 3.
For a sex site, you don't have very far to go. lets see, you have bussinesslogs.com, next one could be hornylogs.com, passionlogs.com, getofflog.com,...
Looks really good, I look forward to watching the progress of this company. Just let me know when I can buy stock :)
Bryan (http://www.juicedthoughts.com)
Wish I could take credit for the design, but most of it (like 98%) goes to Mike. I was just there acting more like a Creative Director (aka Mom) making sure things didn't get too much out of hand :-)
Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)
Nice design, guys.
When I first click on comment links, it drops me all the way down to Email this Entry/Encouraging open communication.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
JC, I think I fixed the problem. Is it working for you?
Mike Rundle (http://www.businesslogs.com)
Congratulations guys on getting this up and running.
Can we now look for the BusinessLogs backstory to come soon?
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
I think it's great, it's a blog without being bloggy, great subtle background image, nice and clean. Also easy to get around. Good luck!
Looking forward to the pdf...
Mike P. (http://www.fiftyfoureleven.com/sandbox/weblog/)
Subtle, but very nice! I especially like how the blockquotes are designed. Congrats to all.
Grant (http://threesixty.cc)
Thanks! Keith, thanks for the link-up on your site too!
Mike Rundle (http://www.businesslogs.com/)
Mark: Hey man, you know the backstory will be coming soon. Thanks for the kind words everyone. I know not everyone looking at it is happy with it, but even just to hear a few people feels good. Back to work...
Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)
I actually got to business logs from a friend's suggestion (news travels fast..) and already left a note there, but I thought I would say it here too, so others could comment.
I was shocked to see that the site employs the supreme anti-user "Coming Soon" tactic. It seemed even more inappropriate since the site is about good communication on the web.
Here is how my user experience went.
1) "Hey, nice site," (looking around)
2) "Oh, a "Writing for the Web" white paper. That is something I would be interested in!" (moving cursur towards white paper graphic}
3) "Look, a "Read->" icon. I can read it right now. Sweet!" (move cursor over graphic. "Coming Soon" roll-over appears)
4) "What the....? Errr. " (mad and disappointed)
My suggestion would be to lose the roll-over and efficiently present the truth right away (e.g. "available June 25th, 2005). At least then I would know when to stop back to check out the paper. What do I do know - check back every day? I'm more likely to not check back. While you are probably happy that I won't be returning, I'm sure you don't want your other users feeling this way.
seth
Seth, I responded to the email you sent and mentioned how I can see your line of thinking. With that I also said we would be adding a "Coming Soon" to the original image and I see you said the same hear so I glad to see we are both moving in the same direction.
Happy that you are not returning? That couldn't be further from the truth. It's the people like yourself who provide us with this type of feedback that we want to return to our site.
Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)
ok. so I may have jumped the gun a bit. I already got a nice note from scrivs about the rational behind the graphic and how they plan to add "Coming Soon" to the original graphic so users will now it isn't available yet.
seth
Paul,
I was only kidding, I like it, and it doesn't suck :) Its actually really pleasent and has an easy on the eyes read about it.
Dade
I agree with Seth's experience, mine was similar. Another thought, in addition / or as a substitute to putting the "available xx-xx-xx" might be to add a form where people can leave their email to be notified of the availability.
But the "read" graphic with a "coming soon" really needs to be changed - IMO.
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
glad to hear it. and seriously, other than my one nitpick, I do think the site is great, and bestow both mad props and good luck upon you and yours.
seth
Cool, you fixed it - sorta. (BL Whitepaper graphic)
Do you still have the image replace tag in there? Because it flickers on rollover in IE6.
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
Ahh the infamous flicker :)
We're hard at work on an improved whitepaper area right now, so bear with us!
Mike Rundle (http://www.businesslogs.com)
Since it's becoming apparent that more people are taking up the virtual company model I would really like to see in an upcoming post either here, or on BL how ya'll handle business issues like taxes and income.
As a virtual partnership spread out over 3 states, where are you registered, how do you divy up the taxes owed, what do you do for income exactly? How do you handle sales tax and other business issues?
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
There isn't a sales tax on services, is there?
So far as income tax, I don't know how they're handling it, but if it was me, I'd pick the state with the best tax laws for the business entity they chose. From there, it's pretty simple if they did an LLC... they file a personal tax return for the state the business entity is registered in, with a form noting the company income and expenses and so on, and pay a share of the tax based on their percentage of ownership in the company, as laid out in their Articles of Organization.
But I'm not a business lawyer or an accountant, so I won't guarantee I'm correct. :-)
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
and Mike...
"We're hard at work on an improved whitepaper area right now, so bear with us!"
It's been over a month. You should take the link off until you have some real content there.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
...There isn't a sales tax on services, is there?...
I can't speak for any other state, but there sure is in Texas. 6.25% to the state and 2% to the city, due every quarter.
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
well, I checked... definitely isn't one in michigan or indiana. Just business income tax. In Indiana, sales tax only applies to goods, not services, with 3 exceptions
Sales or use taxes on services. In Indiana, you may provide many services without incurring any sales tax liability. The state, however, will charge you sales tax if you provide the following type of services:
- the softening and conditioning of water
- the renting or furnishing of certain rooms, lodgings, or other accommodations for a period of less than 30 days
- the renting or leasing of tangible personal property to another person
According to this Texas is the exception rather than the rule, though it's not the only exception.
Isn't it still illegal to buy cleaning products on sundays there, too?
Not that I can talk.. you can't buy alcohol or a car on Sundays in indiana. Apparently drunkenness and dealing with used car salesmen on "the lord's day" are still horrible, horrible sins here. :-)
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
I've never heard anything about nor experienced a ban on buying cleaning products on Sunday. In fact, Sundays are usually when my wife an I do most of our shopping.
however, liquor stores and auto dealers are closed here as well on Sundays.
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
Regarding sales tax, it's my understanding that, generally speaking, if tangible property was produced and handed off - then sales tax is to be charged.
So, if you produce a mockup of a website design on paper = sales tax
You manipulate photographs for induction to a website = sales tax
You package a website on CD for a client = sales tax
In many states, web development is the same as software development, which also is typically subject to sales tax.
However, I'm not a CPA. I just know that when I was researching this for myself I checked many different sources of information, including my CPA and the State, and they all came to the same conclusion. I gottta charge / pay the sales tax.
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
I sure wish the federal government looked at it that way. They consider it to be purely a service industry. Otherwise I could write off all the charity sites I do. If I burn a CD of a site that would be 5K for a client, I can write off the few pennies a CDR costs.
FWIW they treat video production the same way... you can only write off the cost of blank media, not what you would charge for the finished product. Everything else is just time.
A website is not a tangible property. paper mockups and cds aren't a part of the product, the 'true object'
When you provide your patient with dental services as well as an X-ray or gold filling, the client is clearly paying you for the services performed. The actual tangible property received - an X-ray, gold filling or any other material you can actually hold in your hand - is incidental to the actual service provided.
On the other hand, if your computer repair business puts in a power supply and fan, a new RS232 cable, a new monitor and upgraded software for your customer, then you're probably going to have to pay sales tax. The computer equipment and software you installed is the object of the sale to the customer - not the actual labor it took you to install this new equipment. (from here.
So it sucks that texas makes you do sales tax, but most states wouldn't have to, and most of those that would would charge only on the parts, not the labor, to steal from the auto repair industry. Still waiting to hear back from the b-logs folks, of course...
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
To answer your question Mark at the moment we are talking with a financial advisor (nice lady) to figure out the best route to go and any money that we make is currently being held in an account so that we don't get into any trouble.
Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)
JC -
Here's the little kicker from the article you quoted in #36 -
...a number of state lawmakers have begun to re-examine the exclusion of service from sales tax liability because they realize that a potentially large source of revenues is going uncollected. So as you might expect, these lawmakers are working on changing their laws to treat some, if not all, services as taxable.
If there's one thing I've learned, it's that U.S tax law (along with Copyright law) is extremely complicated and it's better to be safe than sorry.
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
Quite true. As long as the federal government keeps up with the trend and lets me write off all the charitable stuff, I'll be perfectly satisfied with that. My accountant assures me that Indiana won't be touching sales tax on services any time soon, and sadly, by the time the fed counts donation of services as deductable expenses, I will quite probably be retired, if not expired. :-)
Paul, good to know you're keeping legit. :-)
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
Yeh, I agree. Good to see and know that BL is getting off to the right start.
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
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#1
After reading that entry it might be the most poorly written entry ever, but that is only because of my excitement. Not too many opportunities like this come across in your lifetime so when they do make sure to grab them by the horns.
Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)