LEARNING CURVE: TALAN INC. : Law Merchant : Student Balances School, Business
Being a student can be as time-consuming as working full time, but Tom Taulli has learned that it can also be an excellent time to launch a business. The law student has taken advantage of his flexible schedule and academic resources to start Talan Inc., a custom software company. Taulli was interviewed by Karen Kaplan.
I’m a third-year student at Whittier Law School in Los Angeles, but I have never had the desire to practice law. At the beginning of my second year, I started a software company, and now it takes up at least 25 hours of my time each week. I started taking classes at night so I could run my business during the day.
I wrote my first program--for people studying for the Series 7 licensing exam for stockbrokers--in about a month, but when I tried to sell it, I didn’t get any worthwhile offers. Then I adapted it for the architectural registration exam and started selling it directly to architecture students. I got an 800 number with an answering service and the ability to accept credit cards, but that took a long time. When I was finally all set up, the exam was only a month away, so I only sold four copies.
Last summer, I decided to adapt the program for the bar examination for lawyers. I called a company that teaches a prep course, and they wanted so many special features that I ended up scrapping the architecture program and starting over.
I had no clue what the price should be, so I called a friend at a computer company where I had worked, and he was really helpful. Then I called some computer consultants and asked them what they would charge to write this kind of a program. That’s how I came up with a price.
If you want to start your own business, make a list of the jobs you’ve had and the skills you’ve learned. You can save yourself a lot of learning if you capitalize on the skills you already have.
Find a kind of business that you can run from home where you can do most of the work yourself. It would be nearly impossible to set up an office and manage employees if you are also a full-time student. If you have a fax machine, a phone and electronic mail, it’s pretty easy to get started. There is so much technology you can take advantage of.
Get advice from everybody. Ask professors at school for help. They’ve done consulting for companies and their advice is invaluable. You can also get a lot of free books from the library. I read books on how to start a corporation and how to develop software contracts.
You have to be available during the day to make calls, generate leads and talk to clients. They’re not going to be there at 7 p.m. when you’re done with school. Work has to be the first priority if you’re going to have a credible business. People won’t pay you unless they think you’re dedicated. If your school work suffers, you can always drop a class and start again later.
It takes a lot of plain, hard work, and you have to be completely optimistic. You have to believe in yourself totally and think that bigger and better things will happen tomorrow.
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On the flexibility of being a student . . .
“I started taking classes at night so I could run my business during the day. . . . You have to be available during the day to make calls, generate leads and talk to clients.”
On choosing a business . . .
“Make a list of the jobs you’ve had and the skills you’ve learned. You can save yourself a lot of learning if you capitalize on the skills you already have.”
On resources available at school . . .
“Ask professors at school for help. They’ve done consulting for companies and their advice is invaluable. You can also get a lot of free books from the library.”
AT A GLANCE
Company: Talan Inc.
Owner: Tom Taulli
Nature of business: Computer software design
Founded: January 1995
Location: Monrovia
Number of employees: Two
Annual sales: $43,000
