The nature of your craft show business and your budget will
determine whether or not you need others to help you with any
aspect of your craft show business. Needless to say, the
success of your crafts at craft shows will also have a
considerable effect on whether or not you will need to hire
employees.
On the “free” end, you can get help from friends and family to
produce your crafts and help with any business aspects. A tax
benefit for “hiring” your children under 18 is that you don”t
have to pay social security or medicare taxes if your business
is a sole proprietorship or partnership owned solely by you and
your spouse.
Next, you can find students or apprentices to work on your
crafts for free, or at least inexpensively. Contractors, who you
would just use on occasion when you need extra help, would be
the next level. You also may have friends who want to pick up a
little extra pocket change working on your crafts from home can
do some production work for you. A bookkeeper who comes in once
a month to balance your checkbook and enter your income and
expenses is a contractor, and you don”t have to deal with taxes.
Check with the IRS or your accountant to be clear about the
difference between independent contractors and employees.
If you feel you need employees as your craft show business
grows, you should consult an accountant or the Small Business
Administration for all the regulations. These might involve
registering with the Department of Labor, applying for Worker”s
Compensation insurance and securing an employee identification
number (EIN) from your state and national government offices.
You”ll need to apply for an EIN from the IRS anyway if you”re
using a business name different from your own. When you use your
own name as your business name and you have no employees, your
social security number will suffice. You might also want to
check with your bank, because they may require an EIN to open a
business account, even if it”s in your own name.
Finally, consider which professionals you”ll want to have in
your line-up of support. An accountant and lawyer are good to
have at least to call when issues come up. Many crafters have a
good photographer they use for promotional photos and slides of
their work. Quality slides can make the difference in getting
accepted to juried craft fairs. You may also occasionally need
the services of a graphic designer to create brochures, hangtags
or other marketing materials and a PR person if you want to take
out ads or run press releases. All of your decisions concerning
using other people to help you succeed are based on your needs,
your own abilities and your budget. Everyone needs to make these
choices for themselves.
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