Weekly Inspiration

This ring is so crazy and fun I had to feature it.

Handmade & Kawaii Ring By Me - Pancake With Honey, originally uploaded by FromJapanWithLove Japanese Kawaii Stationery.

Submit your photos for consideration as a Weekly Inspiration by adding them to the Flickr Group.

Quick Tip #22 - Craft Fairs and Festivals Sign Up

It's that time of year, if you're doing craft shows and festivals over the summer you need to be signing up now. I've already sent in 2 registration forms for shows in July and I'm working on number 3 today. It's going to be a busy year.

A few resources for finding shows:

• Indie Craft Shows
• Fairs and Festivals
• Festival Network Online

Also check out local and state arts organizations, for example in Maine where I live we have the Maine Arts Commission which lists events.

Weekly Inspiration

I don't have the guts to show off my studio in it's usual messy state.

Post Mosaic Studio /Pre-cleaned up Studio, originally uploaded by vintagebutterfly94.

Submit your photos for consideration as a Weekly Inspiration by adding them to the Flickr Group.

Q&A - Supply Costs

Kaelin said...

I would like to know what the right ratio of start-up costs are for materials. I work in what has turned out to be a series of designs appealing to a rather high-end clientele, which entails a rather large materials bill. I have invested very heavily to start, and about once a year I manage to cover most of my previous expenses, but not enough to continue to restock materials such as gemstones, precious metals, and gift boxes with which to make more pieces....

My answer to this isn't entirely about supply costs. Yes, starting out you may need to invest in a lot of supplies that will take a while to earn enough to cover the cost. I think you should start small and not put supplies on credit cards when starting out, if your carrying those supplies as a balance they are costing you a lot more with interest. How much is totally dependent on how much time you can devote to your craft, what supplies are needed, and how much you can afford.

The real issue here sounds more like covering the cost of your supplies on an ongoing basis. If you are selling your work yet can't cover the cost of new supplies to restock then your prices are probably too low. You should be making enough to cover the cost of material, the cost of a replacement, and pay yourself a decent wage for your time.. I've covered pricing before in this post. If on the other hand you are pricing well and aren't selling enough to cover your costs then you may need to take a break from making new pieces and work on promoting yourself. You need to be selling enough to cover your costs and make a profit.

Make sure you are tracking all your sales and expenses somewhere, whether it's accounting software like Quickbooks, Excel/Open Office spreadsheets, or a ledger book. Doesn't matter so long as your keeping records. If you aren't tracking this stuff it can be far too easy to spend too much on supplies or spend the money elsewhere. Plus if you keep the books organized it makes taxes far easier and you and the IRS will be happier.

Video Pick: GIMP Basics

GIMP is my choice for image editing and it's free. With it you can color adjust photos, crop, scale, create banners, business cards, etc. It is quite powerful but takes some getting used to so here's a nice little introductory video. For more advanced stuff check out the rest of the GIMPTricks channel.

Weekly Inspiration

The Dotty line // Dotty-fabric-basket, originally uploaded by émili.

Submit your photos for consideration as a Weekly Inspiration by adding them to the Flickr Group.

Q&A - Multiple Income Streams

Avlor said...

How do you manage multiple income streams? (i.e. PayPal and Google checkout). Right now I treat my Paypal account like my checking account and everything is funneled through there. You've hinted at a main account you funnel to and have regular withdrawls from. Have you had issues with the time for Paypal or Google checkout?

Here's the way I have my accounts set up: Once or twice a week I'll transfer money from Paypal to two savings accounts. One is my business expense account and the other is a personal savings account, 1/3 goes to the business account and 2/3 goes to the personal account. Google checkout is set to send any money I make to the business account since it only allows being linked to 1 account.

So if this week I've made $300 that was paid via paypal, $100 goes to the business account and $200 to my personal account. Remember these are savings accounts so they also earn interest (though rates are very low right now).

I have a checking account for business expenses and I transfer money to it once a month. This account is ONLY used for business purchases and that makes my record keeping much easier.

Twice a month I have money automatically transferred from my personal savings account to my personal checking account. I consider this like my paycheck and it's what I use for my personal expenses, I resist the temptation to make extra transfers though as my business grows I give my "paycheck" (the one exception was is the holidays, if your sales tripled like mine did it's okay to give yourself a small bonus). I also have another $50 a month automatically transferred to another savings account that is an emergency fund. The purpose behind this system is to smooth out the variations that any handmade business has in sales and set aside money for business expenses, it's tempting to splurge during good months then you're left with things being very tight during slower months. This also solves the time problem, since everything is scheduled and I know how long the transfers take I know exactly when I'll be getting my money and if I'm uncertain I have online banking set up for all my accounts.

I'm able to keep track of my accounts and see the big picture using Mint.com which is a free personal finance service that lets you track how much you make and spend in an easy way. This is just for simple tracking, I use spreadsheets for keeping track of expenses and income for taxes and that is a whole other topic for another time.

If you have a question you can email me or leave a comment in the Q&A Request thread.