I Started a Consulting Business
I finally filed the LLC paperwork for Hamsti Studios. Fifty dollars to the state of Colorado, five minutes on a government website, and now I'm officially a business.
I'd been putting this off for a while. Not because it was hard - it wasn't - but because making it official felt like a commitment. As long as it was just "some freelance work on the side," I didn't have to take it seriously. Now there's a legal entity with my name on it.
The Paperwork Was Almost Disappointing
I'd heard horror stories about business formation. People talking about lawyers, registered agents, complicated multi-state filings. I spent way too long researching Stripe Atlas and Delaware LLCs before realizing none of that applied to me.
Here's what actually happened: I went to the Colorado Secretary of State website, filled out a form, paid $50, and I was done. The whole thing took maybe five minutes. I kept waiting for the complicated part and it never came.
I registered myself as my own registered agent, which just means legal mail comes to my address. Some people pay services to do this so their home address isn't public record, but I didn't care enough to spend the money.
The EIN was even easier - you go to the IRS website, answer some questions, and they just give you a number. Immediately. No waiting, no fee. I'd been dreading that step for months and it took less time than making coffee.
The One Real Project So Far
Before I even filed the LLC, I'd already done one consulting project. A coworker at my day job got approached by an education company that needed to migrate their courses from Articulate Rise to Canvas LMS. It wasn't something my employer was interested in taking on, so I ended up doing it myself.
The project took several months. The tricky part wasn't the code - it was figuring out how to extract content from Articulate Rise exports in the first place, then rebuilding everything in Canvas through their API so it worked exactly the same. Lots of iterations with the client, lots of "actually, can this look more like the original" back and forth.
It was a good project. Got paid, learned a lot about LMS internals, and proved to myself I could actually do this independently. But it came to me through a connection at work. I didn't have to find it.
Now Comes The Hard Part
The LLC is filed. The website is up. I've got the business bank account situation figured out. All the infrastructure is in place.
And now I need to actually find customers.
This is the part nobody warns you about. Everyone talks about choosing an entity type, setting up accounting, picking your tech stack. That stuff is straightforward - you research it, make decisions, execute. There's a clear path.
Finding clients is different. There's no checklist. I can't just fill out a form and have customers show up. I haven't even started marketing yet because I'm not sure where to begin.
I know the theory: tell people what you do, be specific about who you help, create content that demonstrates expertise, show up in places where potential clients hang out. But theory and practice are different things. Actually putting yourself out there, saying "hey, I do this thing, you should pay me" - that's uncomfortable in a way that filing paperwork isn't.
The Money Situation
I'm doing this alongside a full-time job, which takes some of the pressure off. I don't need consulting income to pay rent. But I'm also treating the money seriously from day one.
My system: 50% of every payment goes into a separate account for taxes. That's probably more than I'll actually owe, but I'd rather have a cushion than get surprised in April. The self-employment tax hit is real - you pay both halves of Social Security and Medicare when you're on your own. Better to over-save than scramble later.
I haven't figured out pricing yet. I know I want to do project-based rather than hourly, because hourly feels like it punishes you for being efficient. But what to actually charge? Still working on that. I've read all the advice about value-based pricing and charging what makes you uncomfortable, but none of that helps when you're staring at a blank proposal wondering what number to put in.
What I'm Still Figuring Out
A lot, honestly.
Marketing strategy. Where do I find people who need what I build? How do I talk about it without sounding like every other "I build custom software" consultant? No idea yet.
Project management. When I do land clients, how do I keep them updated? What tools do I use? How much communication is too much vs. not enough? I have opinions from being on the receiving end at my day job, but running it myself is different.
Scope and specialization. Right now my site says I do web development, mobile apps, custom software, automation, cloud infrastructure, and technical consulting. That's... a lot. Probably too broad. But I'm hesitant to narrow down before I know what people actually want to hire me for.
Why I Did This Anyway
Honestly? I wanted to make it official. I'd been doing occasional freelance work as just myself, dealing with 1099s, treating it like a hobby that sometimes paid. Filing the LLC felt like deciding to take it seriously.
There's also something appealing about building something that's mine. At a day job, you do good work and it belongs to the company. That's fine - that's the deal. But having a thing on the side, even a small one, where the wins and losses are entirely yours? That's different.
I'm not quitting my job or anything dramatic. This is a side business, maybe always will be. But I'm excited to see where it goes.
The paperwork was the easy part. Now I have to figure out everything else.
If you're thinking about doing something similar: just file the LLC. It's not the barrier you think it is. The real work starts after.
You can see what I'm building at hamsti.co. And if you have a project that needs someone who builds with Next.js, Bun, Rust, or just "whatever gets the job done" - let's talk.