Business tips and resources

Business setup tips

Get the structural stuff set up early when you are initially setting up a business, even if it is a side business or part time. Keeping it separate from your personal life and banking from the beginning will help you figure out what's working, and also take advantage of tax deductions and business pricing and other resources.

Dedicated email address for work (even if it's an @gmail one) to separate it out from your personal life.
1. If you have the budget for it (~$50-80/year USD), you can make an [email protected] email address at this point; companies Google Apps and Proton provide these services. Switching email addresses later is a pain, so potentially worth doing at the start.
Password manager. Put all passwords into it as you make new accounts; and put 2-factor auth on everything too as you set it up.
Form a business structure, as applicable for your country.
1. USA: Sole Proprietorship is fine for most people starting out, once you get to bigger numbers in profit you can always transition it to an LLC or other structure. You typically need to register with the city/state for sole proprietorship or other biz setup, and when you do that you can sign up for remitting sales tax to them as well.
Business bank account. You can look for small business oriented bank accounts with no fees and good interest rates.
Make your own website with a domain, it can be as simple as you want. A domain registrar like Hover lets you purchase a domain. Then, in the settings panel you point the domain to a website you've made on a web host. There are many free/inexpensive website builders available to start with; you can even use a Google Doc as a website.
Setup with your relevant tax authority, as needed.
1. USA: Get an EIN from the IRS online, so any work you do where you fill out W9s etc doesn't have to use your personal SSN, and you use that with all the payment processors.
2. USA: Sign up for sales tax remittance, if you're collecting sales tax.
If you're in a region where you typically pay sales tax on purchases, get a reseller certificate so that you don't pay sales taxes on the items (like paper, envelopes, etc) that go into products you're going to sell and collect sales tax on later. (No paying taxes twice!) Search your state/locality name + "reseller certificate" to find out how to do this.
1. When you set up an account with a local paper store, give them a copy of your reseller certificate so you don't pay any sales taxes on the paper and supplies you're using to make things you will sell; this is often part of how you access non-retail pricing for businesses, which is often much less expensive.
Set up a store/way to collect money online. In the USA and other countries, many small businesses use the payment processorStripe to process payments which transfer to their bank account.
Spend all business expenses money out of your biz bank account, so you can deduct all the tax-deductible things.
And put all income into your business so you can track what's coming in; then you can pay yourself out of the biz bank account into personal.
Connect some kind of expense tracking software to your business bank account, and any debit/credit cards associated with it. In the USA, examples include Quickbooks, Wave, or You Need A Budget. That will help you figure out how it's going, what's working/not.
Set up a way to take credit cards if you're going to sell at Events. The simplest option is to take tap to pay using your cell phone (people tap their credit/debit cards on your phone); you can also get a card reader that reads the chip, for example this one from Square. Options include Square, Stripe Terminal,SumUp, and many others.

Offering contract / custom / print-for-hire risograph printing

If you're planning to offer contract printing, workshops, or other interactions that require you to have, outline a workflow for however you want contract printing to work.

Make clear webpages detailing all that for people; and be clear on expectations and timing.
- What kind of jobs do you take? Do you offer bindery services? What is the timing for a regular job? What is the timing for a rush job?
- Do you offer any file prep, such as color separation or imposition, or do you require print-ready files? What does file prep cost; is it flat fee or hourly?
Add self-service bookings (such as a self-service scheduler like Calendly or similar) to your website, so people can choose from the times you have available and you don't need to go back and forth over email to schedule something.
Set up forms and places for people to upload files to get things out of emails and into a process and structured data whenever you can.
Figure out if you need to charge sales tax on purchases. If you are doing print-for-hire for another small business; ask if they have a reseller certificate so you do not need to charge them sales tax.

Online Shops

Shopify - Higher cost and more difficult initial setup; more professional options.
BigCartel - A common option for artists not ready for Shopify; has free and various paid tiers.
Etsy - Easy initial setup; low listing fees and no monthly fees, but high fees on completed sales. Less professional looking; the brand "etsy" has a lot of craft-based connotations.
Faire - Platform for offering wholesale that is used by and familiar to many shops and small bookstores; takes a big commission on orders from their network but no commission on buyers who come to you directly.