Find the Money
You have heard the saying.. "no job is finished until the paperwork is done".. this statement is very true, when it comes to running a craft business, or any business!
You need to keep track of your income and expenses, not only for the tax man at the end of the year, but also for you. You need to make sure you are not running around in circles, working very hard, and not making any money, you want to find the money!
As a book keeper myself, and owner of a craft business, I know how important it is to have a simple system for keeping track of these records. You need something very simple that you will get into the habit of doing everyday. Stuffing receipts in your glove box, or better yet the dashboard!, or leaving them in the bags.. is NOT a good way to store receipts!.. Your car should not be your office!
For example, when I purchase supplies or something for my business, I have an envelope in my purse where I stick the receipts for business, and then empty the envelope into a IN basket right beside my computer at the end of the day. My husband, always puts his business receipts in his left hand pocket of his jeans, separate from his wallet, and then empties his pocket at the end of the day into the IN basket. This has become a habit.
So, now you have this IN basket filling up, you now need to spend at least an hour per week (depending on how complex your business is) entering these receipts into a accounting program. Try and pick the same time every week, because we humans are creatures of habit... If you have a computer and have purchased an accounting program, you should not have any trouble with this. Most programs are very explicit and are designed for beginners right up to advance, keep an IN basket for your invoices as well, enter them at the same time, and this is a good way to keep track of customers who are a bit tardy if your business does custom work, but it also keeps a customer data base for sending news letters to and letting them know your sales, or where your shows will be. This can be a great system to promote your business.
If you do all the book keeping, yourself, and on a regular basis, not only will you sail through tax time, but you can continuously see your results on these programs, as they will print out profit and loss statements, and you can see where you are spending too much, or not charging enough. The old fashioned way of doing this manually is still good, but if you want to see where you stand with just the press of a button, then get yourself set up with some accounting software, and find the money!
accounting
find the money is an article by Diane Palmer, who has over 15 years in the crafts business.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Find the Money