My LLC's One Year Anniversary

Today is my one year anniversary! On March 15th, 2023 I officially registered Modern Anthro Consulting LLC as a Limited Liability Company with the State of New York.  One year in, here are some thoughts on what happened and what I hope is still to come.

Last winter I was offered a consulting contract with a new park conservancy out of Western New York. This was not the first time I was hired as a contractor/consultant, so I proceeded like normal with the paperwork. Once it became clear that my work with this conservancy might be longer term, it occurred to me it might make sense to create a legal structure. In 2022, my husband and I filed an LLC for his landscaping business. The process was still pretty fresh in my head. So, I pumped on the breaks with signing my contract and, as quickly as one can do these things, set up an LLC. On March 15th, I formally signed with New York State. (Okay, the picture above was on March 14th. But after it was taken I remembered I actually needed to sign electronically, and I was too tired and pregnant to do it that night...so it happened the next day. But this is a better picture than me huddled over my laptop clicking 'submit' :) )

In the year that has passed, I continued work with that park conservancy (Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy) on launching this project, as well as did some work for a testing company I have written scripts for on and off for the last five years.  I intended to find new clients this year... that didn't happen. My work with these two, combined with my position as an Assistant Professor at SUNY Potsdam, and having my third child kept me too busy. Likewise, at this point I thought I would have made some progress on other goals, which I did not. These outstanding goals include:

• Developing a good business page on my website for new clients. This is as far as I've gotten, I think it needs work (including work samples).
  
• Put together my application for a MWBE (Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises) certification for state contracts.
• Put together my application for WOSB (Women Owned Small Business) certification for federal contracts.
• Developing better logo/branding. Although, I have a feeling I will end up sticking with the super fast logo and color scheme I designed on the fly when I submitted my first invoice!
  

Okay, so that's what I didn't do. But in the spirit of celebrating wins, especially during a hard year (hello, baby number THREE I said!), here are some things I can consider a success.

• I billed hours every month of my first year in business, including the month I gave birth. (I am not sure I should be proud of that...perhaps that goes in the 'are you crazy?' category. I should mention, I really like what I do, so distracting myself with an interesting project while waiting for labor was not painful. I am also the family breadwinner. My monthly income always matters.)
  
• I met with a counselor of the Small Business Development Center. She turned me on to the WOSB and MWBE certifications and the idea of putting in for state and federal consulting contracts. She also answered a lot of other LLC questions I had. These centers are great resources for those who work in NYS.
  
• I started becoming more active on LinkedIn and writing on my blog to grow my network.
  
• I attended the 2023 Society for Applied Anthropology conference for the first time, traveling to Cincinnati for it. I even put my LLC as my primary affiliation!
  
• I submitted an abstract on my consulting project with RWPC for the Society for Applied Anthropology 2024 conference (I am recording my remote presentation this afternoon). Wish I was headed to Santa Fe, but for this year, remote attendance was a better option.
  
• I pitched a few microlearning projects. None have launched yet, but I am excited about the prospects of these projects.  I hope to offer these as a part of my services  in the future.
  
• I accepted invitations to present on the Ralph Wilson consulting project at two events this spring. This will be great for getting my name out there and sharing the project that sparked the invites.
  
• I planned two overnight working retreats for myself, creating some much needed space from my hectic family and work life. At both, I spent considerable time thinking through current projects, goals, and challenges. I cannot stress enough how worthwhile something like this can be during certain seasons of life. Parenting three kids 6 and under is a very busy season of life for me. The occasional night in a hotel alone with my work is invaluable.
  
• I filed my taxes. This counts as an achievement! Especially since I remembered to pre-pay my federal self-employment taxes in the three quarters I was in business - Q2, Q3, and Q4!

Okay, so one year in and I am feeling good about my progress. Tonight, I will celebrate with a small glass of champagne, and tomorrow I will keep at it. Looking forward to what the future holds!

-Katie