Modish Biz Tips

Why Do You Want to Start a Creative Business?

{photo by DalyDose. Are you ready to get your hands dirty?}

So, you want to start your own creative business, but have you asked yourself why?

It sounds like a simple question, and I'm sure you have many reasons floating through your head right now, but taking to time to answer it really is the first step in helping you get your business going.

Whether you're in the beginning phases of getting things organized, or you've been at your own business for awhile, it's important to define and assess your goals to help keep yourself on target.

Your answer to why you want to go into business for yourself will help you realize what you expect to achieve from your business, what you should focus on and where your passion really lies. Knowing these things is where it all begins and can help you figure out whether or not you should even get started.

Get out your paper and pen and make a list. List all the reasons you can think of as to why starting your own creative business appeals to you.

Think about your dreams and your talents but also money, your family, your responsibilities, your goals for the future and how your business idea could benefit others. Really think about why you want to sacrifice your time and energy to starting your own business. And why would you be good at it?

Are you selling your creative inspiration away?

{photo by Lumaahh. Painting the sky? Priceless.}

There's a definite romanticism attached to people who are able to make a living off their creative talents. I hear all the time how jealous people are of my being able to stay home all day and make my schedule as I please and just write and design and follow wherever my little creative muse takes me. Oh how glorious! Oh how wonderful it must be! Right?

Well, wrong. Although there are many incredible things about being able make money by pursuing your passions, it's definitely not as idealistic as it seems. When you start to make a living off your creative endeavors, when you start to literally sell your talents in art or writing or design, inevitably, there will be some days when doing the thing that you love to do so much just feels like another J.O.B.

The jewelry making that used to be your escape is a lot different when you get a big wholesale order and have to crank out 150 pieces. That painting that you made available as a print may be selling like hotcakes, but having to print it over and over again is a far cry from the feeling that inspired you to create the piece in the first place.

Selling your work is an awesome business to be in and an amazing way to be able to make some money, either on the side or as a full time gig. But when you mix your creative passion with marketing and promotion, money, deadlines and the constant feeling of needing to produce, it truly becomes a business.

So, how do you reconcile a creative hobby that has now become a source of income for you?

Tax Planning for Procrastinators

Oh, I'm so excited to introduce you to a new awesome contributor to this here BIZtips blog, Caroline Devoy, from jcaroline creative! You may know her as your source for all things creative, but she's also an accountant and will be stopping by 1-2 times a month with accounting and money related advice. I think anyone who can make me laugh out loud while reading about taxes is a good lady to have around, so, without further ado, here's her first timely installment...

Tax Planning for Procrastinators a guest post by Caroline Devoy

{photo by Amit Gupta. Tax day in NYC. Don't let this be you.}

Too late to do tax planning for 2008 for you business filers? Heck no. But in 28 days it will be! It is too late to change the outcome of your year, but you can spend some time making sure you find every expense possible before you file. For purposes of this post, I'm only focusing on your business return (Schedule C) due April 15. Not getting into the personal stuff. Personal stuff, yes. Personal tax stuff, no.

For those of you that don't keep "accounting" records during the year, don't stress. Accounting is not a revenue-generating activity and though necessary, it is not a good use of your time. So, don't beat yourself up. But you do need to pull together your information in order to comply with the government. Here is a plan to do that:

Sit down with your checkbook (or bank statements), your credit card statements and your PayPal account. Any money you received or spent in your business went through one of these accounts, yes? Oh, and grab a calculator and paper or a computer and let's start grouping these numbers together. I'm also assuming that most of you are cash basis taxpayers, meaning you don't report anything where cash did not change hands. If that isn't the case, go beat up the accountant that didn't make you a cash-basis taxpayer. By default, individuals (Schedule C filers) are cash basis.

Income is pretty easy. If you got money for virtually anything, it is taxable income to your business. You may have received some 1099-Misc from your clients, but they should just replicate what you already knew from your checkbook. Paperclip them together nicely and stuff them in your tax folder. Also, remember that any money you put into your business personally or any loans you received are not income.

Expenses are where it gets exciting. Really. The IRS says any expenses are deductible that are considered "ordinary and necessary" for your business. So if the expense is for your business, it is deductible. (Okay, there are a few exceptions, but start by assuming EVERYTHING is deductible and then we can eliminate later.) Obviously, what is ordinary and necessary for a graphic designer is different than what is ordinary and necessary for a plumber. You are the authority on what is ordinary and necessary for your business. Of course, the IRS can argue with you, but we'll worry about that later.

Start with a spreadsheet of basic expenses and then put everything you spent for the year in one of these categories. Here's a list to get you started:

Tell a Story to Connect with Your Customers and Sell More

{photo by muffin9101985.  Are you an open book?}

How do people connect with one another, relate with one another, grow to trust one another? Through stories. From ancient paintings on cave walls to books and radio, movies, tv and blogs, humans have always connected to one another through storytelling.

As a designer, an artist or a maker of any sort, this puts you at a distinct advantage... What do all handmade goods have that their mass produced counterparts don't? A story!

You know exactly where your products came from and how they came to be. You can use that to your benefit to help build a connection with your customers. When you emphasize the story behind your product, you can set yourself apart from your competitors and show customers exactly why your shop is different and why they should choose to buy from you.

For example, just yesterday I featured Fox & Clover on Modish because I fell in love with the story behind the work. Each product description tells of how the glass came from an old picture frame or an old window pane, how they were cut and shaped, molded, fused and polished. Each design, painted with a fine quill pen that will never scratch or fade.

Hearing the story of how the items were made had me picturing the designer, Sabrina, digging through piles of junk in search of an old frame to use the glass from and imagining the hours it must take to cut and shape and sand and paint each piece. The story added value to her products and connected with me. And when a good story is paired with a well made item that's presented well too, it becomes pretty hard to resist!

Do What You Love: An interview with Karin Eriksson

Today we have an interview with the successfully self-employed artist, Swedish ceramist Karin Eriksson. I've been absolutely enamored with her work for years- it's stunning and is featured frequently on favorite design blogs like decor8, oh joy, design*sponge and many more. Not to mention, she has her own long running design and style blog and impeccable taste to boot!

Let's get a little glimpse into how she works and her tips on how to make a living doing what you love.

 

What do you do for a living?

I work as a ceramic designer / maker, I produce and sell my work to shops and galleries in all parts of the world. I also have my own shop manos here in Stockholm, where I sell my ceramics and other things that I love.

How long have you been self-employed?  What made you decide to take the leap?

I’ve had my own business for nine years. Before that I worked as a project manager for an advertising agency here in Stockholm. Although I liked working there, I always felt I wanted to do something more ”grounded” or meaningful perhaps. That’s why I decided to go through a second education and make a career out of my hobby.

Do you work from home or have a studio/office elsewhere?

Should BIZtips start from the top? Take this poll!

So, I thought Mondays would be a good day to tackle talk of starting a business from scratch, cover the basic stuff... but I noticed over the course of last week that it seems most of you readers already have businesses in place, already know the basics and are looking more for steps on where to go next.

So, I thought it'd be good to get a sense of how many of you out there reading are indeed in the beginning phases of starting your business, or even just thinking about starting a creative business. If there seems to be enough of you interested and in need of that type of info, I'm happy to become a resource for that! I just want to be sure I'm covering what my readers are most after :)

So, if you can just click a vote to this little poll, I'd appreciate it. 

Also, if you said "yes" above, perhaps you can leave a comment with what you're most curious to find out so I can focus my future efforts and be sure to cover what info you're looking for.

Thanks for your help!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Do What You Love interview with amazing ceramic artist, Karin Eriksson! You won't want to miss hearing what knowledge she has to impart- good stuff!