I'm planning on selling my wares at 2, possibly 3 craft shows in the Lehigh Valley in March. I'll post details once things are definite.
So far I think my biggest challenge craft-show wise is figuring out which shows are worth my time and money. I've only done two so far... One had a good turnout and I made a pretty decent amount of sales, but another was not very well-publicized and didn't have much of a turnout, so I just barely made a profit for the day. Hopefully after this first year I'll have a good feel for which shows are good and which are not so much.
My biggest challenge overall? Taxes. Filing tax returns was SO much easier before I started a business. There are advantages and disadvantages to the fact that I'm selling a physical good, as opposed to some sort of service.
Advantage: I can claim use of my home office for business purposes, because I store all my inventory there.
Disadvantage: Because I store inventory, I find myself wishing I'd paid more attention during my accounting courses in college. When I got to the part on TaxAct about inventory valuation, I went huh? I remember learning about it, but it's not something I've had to use for more than 5 years, and it didn't even occur to me that I'd have to figure out the cost of goods sold. The only thing I remember about inventory is LIFO and FIFO.
So far I think my biggest challenge craft-show wise is figuring out which shows are worth my time and money. I've only done two so far... One had a good turnout and I made a pretty decent amount of sales, but another was not very well-publicized and didn't have much of a turnout, so I just barely made a profit for the day. Hopefully after this first year I'll have a good feel for which shows are good and which are not so much.
My biggest challenge overall? Taxes. Filing tax returns was SO much easier before I started a business. There are advantages and disadvantages to the fact that I'm selling a physical good, as opposed to some sort of service.
Advantage: I can claim use of my home office for business purposes, because I store all my inventory there.
Disadvantage: Because I store inventory, I find myself wishing I'd paid more attention during my accounting courses in college. When I got to the part on TaxAct about inventory valuation, I went huh? I remember learning about it, but it's not something I've had to use for more than 5 years, and it didn't even occur to me that I'd have to figure out the cost of goods sold. The only thing I remember about inventory is LIFO and FIFO.
Thank goodness for the IRS website and its Tax Guide for Small Businesses. Sure, it's incredibly tedious, but if you're considering starting a small business and want to make sure you do things right, it's a must-read.
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