Progress!

Marisa had her first sale!

And started her bookkeeping! Note the lifesavers!?!

The past few days have been busy for the mother/daughter Artist Gurls!  Lots of research and creating products for our April "launch".

Here's what we are currently exploring:  

Mailchimp:  Signed up to build an e-mail list so we can consistently keep people updated on all the happenings and info. I will install that here first, then show Marisa how to do it on her site.  

Paypal: I did some research and asked some people about potential shopping carts.  Paypal is the most popular choice, it's free and people seem satisfied with it.  I know I use it A LOT as a buyer and I've always been happy with the service they provide, so we'll be installing this too for selling our products.

Square:  I ordered us a "square" that should be arriving at the house shortly.  This plugs into your iphone or android and allows you to swipe credit cards and have the money deposited into your bank account.  They charge 2.75% per transaction with next day deposits to your account.  They claim there are no additional fees.  Again, other artists I've heard from also use and like this.  Can't wait to get it-the unit itself is free and you only pay per transaction.

Tax ID#:  Checked into NY State Tax laws and it seems that you must register for a tax ID# and collect sales tax even if you only do one craft show per year.  So, we'll be filling out the application for that as well as registering the business.  We have some things to decide here, such as the name of the business (Artist Gurl?  Have All This? and then attach the tax number to it.)

Setting Up a Separate Bank Account:  Once we register the business name, we will also set up a business bank account to keep things from getting co-mingled. I want to make this as easy on our accountant as I can (I will also be notifying him of our plans and asking for advice on what records to retain, filing and such)


Establishing Business Structure:  We need to decide if we will be a sole proprietorship or an LLC.  Those are the only choices I will entertain.  I like the protection the LLC offers and I like the ease of the sole proprietorship.  I will explain the pros and cons of each to Marisa and reason it out with her, as I think these are important things for her to start to grasp although they may at the moment seem foreign to her.

So that's where we are business, start-up wise.  Much still to be done to get going.

On the creative side....

I'm loving this style!

Churning out lots of new designs! I want a variety of styles to appeal to different tastes.  However, everything I've made so far is stuff I would love to wear, so I'm hoping they appeal to someone other than me!