Milestones
A milestone is one of a series of markers that are placed along a road at regular intervals, to reassure travelers that they are traveling on the proper path and to indicate distance traveled. Within the framework of project management terms, a milestone has a similar connotation, that you are going in the right direction towards a the completion of a work item, phase, or project.
It is those small victories that tell us we are moving in the right direction, albeit often slower than we want. Last month I hit one of those milestones -- I started to pay myself from the company coffers.
This week I've had to file three returns with the government concerning payroll taxes. While I would never celebrate paying taxes, it does mean that I've made enough from consulting to start drawing a modest salary and consequently, that means paying Uncle Sam as well as the State of Minnesota their due.
Timeline:
- Sign first full time client;
- two more months of invoicing to accrue enough in sales to be able to pay myself a modest salary; and finally
- Paying withholding and paying taxes, unemployment insurance, and Minnesota withholding.
In a nutshell, I am now working for myself full time, and surviving.
Secondly, our corporate application to the iPhone Developer Program has been vetted and ultimately accepted by Apple. Oddly enough, I had to fax them the articles of incorporation, and business documents to prove that I was a real company. Then and only then, I received a phone call to tell me that I would receive an email to finish the enrollment.
- This is our first formal relationship with a vendor/partner.
Lastly, I've decided to reorganize the blog categories. I've already revamped the blog HTML template and removed the Google ads.
From now on, I'll be posting in the following primary categories:
- Announcements: corporate announcements and news, press releases, product updates.
- Business of Software: blogs relating to selling, marketing, creating software products.
- Programming: General articles on user interface design, C++, Perl, Python, etc.,
- Business: items of interest for small business owners, freelancers, and self-employed people.
- Consulting: Consulting or Freelancing articles.
- Time Management: items on time management and generally getting stuff done.
Labels: Announcements
