In contrast with the “I just found Unity today, I think I’ll call myself KickAss Productions” and boom you go around pronouncing yourself a business, I actually went and created a company: MyBad Studios.
I submitted the paperwork, waited, waited, got some more paperwork, waited… then my luck changed for the worse and I was told that apparently some or other law had changed and all the staff had to get retrained so registrations were going real slow…
Initially they told me it will take 4 to 6 weeks. So 8 weeks later they told me we are finally on day 9 of 10 and my company will be registered within the next week. My company name has been confirmed and it was now the final stretch. After 8 weeks of the 4 to 6 weeks, we were on day 9 of 10 and less than a week away… another 6 weeks later, I finally got my registration details today!
So, it is now official, as of today, I am a business! Yeay! I had everything from the bank account to the T-shirts to the customers to the “name”… now I have that little number also. Yippee!
I’ve been waiting for that number for ages so I am clearly very excited. I just wanted to share my good news with you all
I know I have to go and do that at some point and its a pain in the ass to do. Selling as sole proprietor was easier at the time but it makes little sense in the long haul.
i just read a post of yours like 10 minutes before I posted this. You were the last person I was thinking of before I write this and you are the first person to post a reply… hmmm… I wonder if this is fate saying I should keep my eye on you…hmmm…
I was looking at buying a shelf company in the US and a lot of links pointed to a place that sells shelf companies in the UK. Less than 40 quid to own a business in under 3 hours… Lol… it sure is a lot less of a pain that it was over here, tough
Now $800 to $1500 for a US shelf company and having to pay $1000 extra per state that you want to do business in… yeha, i think I’ll give that one a miss, thanks very much! :shock::shock::shock:
Thing is though, limited company is preferable if you’re going to be really exposed to being sued or other things. Because they can take your business, but they can’t ruin you as well.
When doing games, providing you do not put yourself in danger of being sued, it is OK for the most part to be a sole proprietor or sole trader, but when it comes to growth, a company is better, and probably has better tax opportunities too. Depends how its run I guess
Granted. I always thought sole proprietor is the way to go since it was easy to create but yeah… not planning on getting sued anytime soon but with someone being able to come up to me saying: “Hey, I patented the use of people with your name owning that company name” or something sully like that, some degree of abstraction would be useful.
Unfortunately, LLCs are jut too much bother what with directors and required meetings and minutes and secretaries etc etc etc. Fortunately in South Africa they have an in-betwen option. It’s called a closed corporation. It is a separate entity from yourself but can have only 10 members and does not require all that other jazzz… I went for that option.
Wohooo, congrats on taking that huge step !
Business is fun ! It’s where the magic happens !
Now on a more serious note, you reeeeaaaally gotta spice up your company website. The quality work you display is 10kilometer above the quality of your website design, sry to be so harsh about that.
I sincerely hope your business is doing well, but I think putting up a nice homepage is y key factor in being taken seriously.
You should really consider doing a major overhaul to do your work justice !!
And to end positive:
Another round of virtual congratulation hugs just for you \o/ \o/ \o/
Thanks for that endorsement Acumen. Much appreciated.
Re the website: Unfortunately, I can’t do any better than that for a website. I am a games developer. I don’t have any creative juices lol
No, to be honest, I think the website is functional but not much else. I have been meaning to give it a revamp but I simply don’t get around to it… I have been so swamped with work that I have had to turn down some really nice sounding contracts… I honestly wish there were more hours in the day… Having said that, though, I wasn’t overly excited about it but i didn’t think people are being put off by it, though… :shock: :horror:
The other day I actually asked a guy on this very forum who was advertising his skills as a web developer to look at my current page and show me how he would do it better. Said he’d get back to me but I never heard from him again. Actually completely forgot about him until I started writing this reply, to be honest… I figured my own design skills must have sent him running for the hills
Thanks once again for the endorsement. It will haunt me until the website is taken down.
MrDude, first of all, congratulations for the company, I wish you make lots of money and have fun.
Second, as other said, you need to redesign your website. It looks unprofessional and that isn’t good for the business.
I could help you with that and in 5 days I could completly redesign your website for only 30$.
It took me less than 3 hours (including driving to the gouv office) to create and register my company. But yeah, things are a bit different here (Quebec/Canada).
Anyway, congratulations! You are now a business “dude”. ^^
Cool. Actually me and my friends also have plans to start our own studios, but we are now still going through classes, i am still a student pursing my diplomas. But one day i hope i can be just like you. Having my own company and such. Seems nice and hiring people with interest like you.
Next step is to firmly march on to becoming a “platform”.
Then you can say,
“I am now a platform, develop for me and I may let you make some money too.”
Wow! Thanks for the support you guys. Really appreciate it
This has been my dream since… I don’t remember how long ago any more… It is still weird to know it is now “official”.
It feels fantastic… but strange! Somehow, being a Unity dev feels different, now…
@RedBeer
If I lay on top of a puddle of water and tell my wife to walk across, I already AM a platform. Not sure how you are gonna make any money off me, though… unless you pick my pocket while I am being stomped upon
Man this feels weird. I am now officially a business and I can’t advertise anything because I am already booked solid until Xmas! LOL! I just finalized the deal for my latest contract and like an hour or so afterwards my registration came through. Awesome timing! Right now I have all of you saying congratulations and I am able to say: “Thanks very much. Greatly appreciated” as opposed to “Thanks. Don’t forget to come spend some cash, bring your friends, tell everyone you know and please consider me for future work…oh, and your support is appreciated”
I had everything from the bank account to the T-shirts to the customers to the “name”… now I have that little number also. Yippee! 
:shock::shock::shock: