Finances

Business Growth

1.  I think it is an important point to separate your finances.  I have noticed that the more money you start making, the more overwhelming it is.  You forget where payments are coming from and who needs to get paid.

2.  I definately think a business checking account or credit card is vital.  It is very tempting to just use the same one for everything, but that makes it harder to actually see what your expenses and profit are.

3.  I hope to be able to get bookkeeping software as recommended in this article.  The closest I am to financial documentation currently is a file with each ebay order and the correlating shipment receipts.  However, if I could have a system for doing this all electronically, it would easier to keep track.

Tax Tips


1.  I like that this article makes it a point to mention the most important things about tax for Etsy, and make it know that taxes aren't as scary as they seem.

2.  Many people take organizational skills for granted, but I believe this was the most important thing in the article.  Being organized makes all the aspects of managing your etsy business better.  However, it is most important for taxes because you have your bases covered.  This way, even if you don't know what you are doing, you have concrete documents you can bring to an accountant or someone more knowledgeable in tax rules.

3.  I was unclear about what the hobby loss deductions were.  I wasn't sure how this worked, or exactly who this applied to.  The article could do more to explain this, because it seems like an important thing for etsy sellers to know.

Holiday Tax Tips

1.  Time management is very important during the holidays.  Not only do sellers have to deal with a seasonal increase in business for their shop, they will also likely have a busy schedule because of their own shopping and holiday obligations.

2.  The holidays will mean you will need more inventory.  It is wise to make sure you have budgetted the funds early so that you can maintain inventory levels throughout the holiday season.  These are sales you can't get back until the next year, so it's important to be able to sell and strike while the iron is hot.

3.  It is also important to make sure your store is in customer's minds during the holidays.  Budgetting to increase your advertisting efforts is also important during the holidays.