Creative Woodworks & crafts 2000-01, страница 59

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The brass tax

Now that you're motivated, let's get down to brass tacks. Putting out work for profit is just that—work! This is particularly true around the Christmas holidays.

The first thing you are required to have is permission from your state to collect sales tax. That will be in the form of a certificate which must be displayed in your place of business, both permanent and temporary. That makes record keeping mandatory to keep you out of court.

Before vou go out and buy supplies ancl start generating sawdust, GET YOUR RECORD KEEPING SYSTEM IN ORDER!!!! From that day forward YOU will bear full responsibility for local, state, and federal Lax conformance on top of your present lax situation. If your stale or the stales you will be doing business in don't have a sales tax, you're lucky but you still have to declare your income for income tax purposes.

If you decide not to report your income, you are flirting with disaster. You may know a few people selling their work "under the table," but just remember, the IRS has agents out there looking for them. It's a good idea to pay a visit to a CPA and geL their advice on how lo sel up a record keeping system. The visit won't be cheap, bul il will save you money in the long run.

Marketing strategies

There are any number of ways to sell your craft.. You can wait until someone makes a request, which is the easiest way. Just make sure that you can have it by the date promised. You can take a few items to your place of employment and put them on display. .Just get your boss' permission first. You can rent space in a craft gallery. Jusl be sure of how many months you have lo commit to and that you have the cash reserve to cover

the rent for that period in the event your sales are insufficient Lo cover it.

Show business

Then there are the craft shows. I advise booking your first show indoors, in your community. If you elect to do an outdoor show, you will need more resources in order to contend with the weather. Don'l spend more than you can afford to absorb if there are no sales.

Once you've done a few shows, you'll know if it's for you. There arc definitely easier ways to earn money. You are always at the mercy of the elements, whether the show is indoors or out. Weather is the main ingredient for craft show attendance, ancl attendance is a critical factor in selling your craft.

There have been a number of books written on this subject. I didn't read any of them before Alice and I got started, we just jumped in with both feet. We made a few mistakes, who doesn't, and we are surviving. If 1 were you though, I'd get a copy of Wendy Rosen's book, Crafting as a Business, which is distributed by Sterling Publishing Company. It's one of the best primers on this endeavor thai you can read. She covers nearly all the aspects of setting up a craft business and developing a customer base. It's filled with personal accounts from artists who are "doing it," not just one person's experience. It's laid out in an easy to read format with appropriate high quality photographs. Keep the receipt...it's tax deductible! All you have to do is follow that up with a course in bookkeeping and you're on the way lo a successful crafting career.

If you have any questions, just drop me a line al Uncle Wes' Woodshop, PO Box 7t38, Sussex; NJ 07461 or e-mail mc at unclcwes@wannck.net or here at the magazine.