The Business of Creativity – Page 45 – Houchin Consulting PLLC

Scene Magazine – February 2007

Building Your Team
© Kevin E. Houchin, Esq.

I’m a fiercely independent guy. For the longest time I thought there was great honor in doing everything on my own, and I was right. However, I finally realized that my goals are bigger than the results I can achieve by myself. There is simply no way I can reach my goals without the help of a team. Sure, many of you are probably saying “duh!” – I guess I’m just a little slower than most.

How should one go about building a team? For me it made sense to list all the tasks that are required of me in a day, week, month, and year. Then I categorized those tasks into those I enjoy doing and those I don’t enjoy. Finally, within the list of tasks I don’t enjoy, I ranked the tasks according to which “rung of hell” I find myself in while doing the work. For instance, itemizing my credit card charges is the very lowest, deepest rung of hell. One step up is filing. I HATE those things. Amazingly enough, there are people that find this work fun! Yes, they walk among us. I love finding and advising passionate clients, planning creative business ventures, creating branding campaigns, and networking. I needed to focus on the things that fuel my passion and make me actually want to come to work every day.

Logically, my first team member was a bookkeeper that would itemize all the credit card statements and file all the invoices and even make sure my health-insurance premiums get paid on time. It’s a simple hourly contract, no overhead, no tax liability, and no fuss. My bookkeeper is self-employed and simply comes into my office once or twice a week to keep me out of that lowest rung of hell. It’s easily the best money I ever spent because she can do the work twice as well in half the time while I focus on building my business and actually doing the work I love. And, most amazingly to me, she actually enjoys the work.

As business really started taking off last fall, it was painfully apparent that I was spending too much time managing the clerical tasks of my office. I needed an assistant. I put a couple ads online and got a huge response. I ended up hiring two part-time employees on an hourly basis. These two happen to be qualified to handle several different levels of tasks, so we simply worked out a scaled hourly wage based on the actual work. For instance clerical work is paid at a lower hourly rate than paralegal or legal work.

I had thought when I placed the ad that I would just have them be independent contractors, but as the job description evolved, it made sense to actually do tax withholding as “employees.” It’s important when building your team that you deal with independent contractors as such and employees as such. My two new people would be considered “employees” because they would be working here in my office, using my computers, and under my direction, unlike my book-keeper who brings in her own laptop and does as much work at her office as she does at mine.

I don’t need to go out and hire a business lawyer – because that’s what I do, but if you’re not a lawyer, it makes sense to invest in at least a little advice relative to your formation. Sure, the Secretary of state only charges a $25 filing fee, and it’s a simple on-line form, but that’s just the first step in getting a company set up – which is where a lawyer can help.

I have a tax advisor, a few investment advisors, insurance advisors, and even a “coach” (if you don’t work with a coach, you should really consider finding someone). The next thing for me is to build peer mentoring relationships with guys that are facing some of the same issues as I, and individual mentoring relationships with older more experienced men that I respect and want to emulate. I’m working on those and I’ll share how these evolve in future columns.

What’s all this have to do with a legal column in a lifestyle magazine? Just that most of us can’t reach our goals on our own, we need help. Every business development book will tell you to build a team that includes an accountant and a lawyer, because most people simply lack the knowledge or qualifications to handle those critical matters. Those sources generally fall short of telling you how to assess your own needs for help and approach filling those voids. Additionally, if you are hiring someone on a part time or contract basis, you need to have a written understanding of who owns any creative product, such as copy for a brochure, a logo design, or anything copyrightable. If you’re hiring people as employees, you need to address income tax withholding and other employment law issues.

What’s your lowest rung of hell? What’s your favorite thing to do? If you can answer these questions, you’ll be well on your way to building a successful team.
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Kevin E. Houchin principal of Houchin & Associates, PLLC – a copyright, trademark, arts & entertainment, and business development and branding law firm located in Fort Collins, Colorado. To contact Kevin Houchin, call 970-493-1070 or email him at kevin.houchin@houchinlaw.com.

Scene Magazine – March 2007

Negotiations
© Kevin E. Houchin, Esq.

Lots of folks, including many lawyers, dread confrontation and negotiation. Others relish the process. I choose to redefine “negotiation” as “problem-solving.” It makes a huge difference in my attitude, my clients’ attitudes, and the attitudes of the parties on the other side of the issue.

If you do an Internet search on “negotiation” you’ll find out it’s not just a process, it’s an entire industry. Many approaches to the process can be described as “classic” or “positional bargaining” and focus on the gamesmanship of a chess match when one party is trying to squeeze every ounce of concession from the other. This approach gives rise to all the anxiety or pleasure associated with competition. I’ve found that the only “winners” in this approach are the lawyers or the people being paid for writing the books and giving the seminars.

If you’re looking for a winning negotiation strategy, take an “Interest-based” approach to negotiation as outlined in Roger Fisher and William Ury’s “Getting To Yes.” This is a small, but very valuable book that everyone – not just business-people should own. Really, order it now. Interest-based negotiation is founded on 4 mental methods:
1. People: You must separate the people from the problem.
2. Interests: Positions are just cosmetic; you need to find the real interests underlying the negotiation position.
3. Options: Don’t be stuck with one “deal-breaker” answer – generate real (hopefully win-win) options.
4. Criteria: Work toward an objective (as such, probably more mutually agreeable) standard for a successful solution.

There is NEVER only one correct solution. It doesn’t matter if you are friends trying to work out partnership interests in a new business or a couple trying to work out if the toilet seat should be left up or down (guys – you’ll always lose this one – it’s in your best INTEREST to give up and put the seat down, even though it’s completely illogical that you are always the one…–but I digress…). The interest-based negotiation process works even if you’ve decided to hate each other.

I don’t have space here to discuss the entire system; it’s the subject of a whole book after all, but I’ll let you in on the biggest benefit. You have to honestly look at the situation from the other person’s point of view, especially if there are more than two parties in the negotiation. What are THEIR interests? As the book says, “If you want to influence them, you also need to understand empathetically the power of their point of view and to feel the emotional force with which they believe in it. It is not enough to study them like beetles under a microscope; you need to now what it feels like to be a beetle.”

To effectively negotiate, you need to understand the problem you are trying to solve is as much emotional as it is practical. Objective criteria help remove the emotional attachment to positions, but sometimes you just need to understand that one of their interests is an opportunity to vent. Sometimes it’s simply an apology. These “concessions” cost little or nothing. You need to make your proposals consistent with their emotional involvement and values. You need to give them a solution that allows them to save face, but still satisfies your interests.

I don’t write Chinese, but I’ve heard the Chinese character for opportunity and crisis is the same. Interest-based negotiation can really turn a crisis into an opportunity. I’ve had many intellectual property infringement situations turn into mutually beneficial licenses. I’ve had arguments that had gotten out of hand resolve into closer friendships and more efficient businesses.

Next time you’re faced with a confrontational “negotiation” situation, adjust your attitude to an interest base “problem-solving” situation. You’ll be glad you did.

Kevin E. Houchin principal of Houchin & Associates, PLLC – a copyright, trademark, arts & entertainment, and business development and branding firm located in Fort Collins, Colorado. To contact Kevin Houchin, call 970-493-1070 or email him at kevin.houchin@houchinlaw.com.

I’m still here…

Sorry I haven’t been blogging much lately. I’ve been head-down with a BUNCH of new business formations, Trademark registrations, and some TM and contract litigation. All this in addition to working on combining my law practice with my marketing and brand consulting.

It’s challenging to find the right words to quickly communicate the concept of a brand-consulting, graphic designing, marketing-communications, intellectual property, and business development law FIRM. But, we’re doing it. Watch for some announcements regarding that effort in the next couple of weeks.

If you happen to be in Denver on Saturday, March 3rd, check out the Building Creative Businesses Expo – it’s free. I’m giving a couple presenations on the business of creativity and copyright for the creative person and business.

Here’s more info on that:

Building Creative Businesses ExpoSaturday, March 3, 2007

Registration: 9:00am
Expo: 10:00am – 4:00pmWellington E. Webb Municipal Building
201 W. Colfax Avenue, Court Street Entrance

The Building Creative Businesses Expo offers Denver’s creative community (e.g., artists, filmmakers, dancers, graphic designers, musicians, etc.) a “one-stop” opportunity to learn about the various City, non-profit and for-profit resources available to help grow and stabilize creative businesses. This is a free program.

Exhibitors will be located in the Atrium of the Webb Building and workshops will take place on the Second and Fourth Floors.

Scene Magazine – January 2007

Naming is one of the most important pieces of launching a new business, band, or product – yet most people really don’t know how to weigh the different factors involved in the decision. Making the wrong choice can cost you dearly. I just had a client who had to change her business name, after spending a considerable amount of money and time building her brand, because her business name infringed on the trademark rights of a similar company of the same name in California.

How do you avoid that type of circumstance and still come up with a great name for your venture? Follow this process:

Brainstorm a bunch of cool, distinctive, and suggestive names.

Make sure the domain name is available.

Check synonyms of the name and other spelling via Google for organizations offering similar services.

Search the United States Patent and Trademark database at www.uspto.gov for possible conflicts.

Register your intent to use the name in commerce with the USPTO.

Brainstorming names is the most challenging and fun part of the process.

The challenge comes from trying to come up with a unique name that still suggests something about your product or service. Trademark rights are more powerful as you become more abstract, so if you’re completely making up a new word, be prepared to spend a lot of time and money answering the question “what he heck is that?” New drugs are the perfect example, would any of us know what “Lunesta,” “Viagra,” “Pepsid,” or “Zantac” were without hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in advertising and public relations? Spending that kind of money connecting your name to your product isn’t an option for most new ventures, so I recommend that people think up names that are more than interesting than something that is merely descriptive of their product or service, but less arbitrary or abstract than a completely new word. The perfect balance is something like “Crocs” for shoes that have some bite, or “Wooden Pencil” for a creative services firm. Whatever you do, don’t just slap together a bunch of those magnetic refrigerator magnet letters and words.

Once you have a list of possibilities, start hitting the Internet. Before the Web, it was easier to name a product or service – especially products and services with limited availability. Now you are national or international as soon as you post a Web site, and you can’t get away without having a Web site, so your domain name has to be perfect. Search for domain names that match your exact business name. Odds are, someone’s using it. Move down your list until you find something that’s available. If you exhaust the list, then start checking what kinds of products and services are being offered by the owners of the matching domains. If someone is using your target domain for the same services, then your out of luck – move to the next name. If someone is using your target domain for a completely different type of service or product, then you MIGHT be able to make something work. The trick at that point is to work out some variation of the domain that would not confuse consumers regarding the source of your products and the other company’s products. Because consumer confusion is what drives trademark law, check sound-alike domains too. Your goal is to own the appropriate name in your category of goods and services.

Domain names are the toughest to figure out, and 99 times out of 100, if you can find an open domain name you’ll be clear relative to trademarks. But, just to be safe, you should search the USPTO database to make sure there is nobody out there with a registered use of the name that hasn’t figured out they need a Web site. Yes, it’s rare, but you can still find someone who hasn’t figured out the power of the internet.

Finally, once you’ve grabbed the perfect domain name for your product or service, register your intent to use that name with the USPTO so that other people who come along are officially on notice that you intend to connect that brand with your products. It takes a lot of work to build a brand, don’t let it go to waste by leaving it unprotected.
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Kevin E. Houchin is a copyright, trademark, arts & entertainment, and business development attorney located in Fort Collins, Colorado working with creative people and businesses all across the United States. To contact Kevin Houchin, call 970-214-6808 or email him at kevin.houchin@houchinlaw.com.