The Library
Why you aren’t paying yourself what you deserve
How often do you pay yourself from your business’ profits? Are you able to do this regularly? You likely turned your crafty hobby into a business with some sort of financial gain in mind – and that comes to fruition when you are able to pay yourself for your hard...
Stop Worrying about Your Competitors’ Prices
I recently reviewed the results my annual survey. Each year, I seek your feedback on what Paper + Spark is doing right, what I’m doing wrong, and what topics you’re currently struggling with. Year after year, one of the most commonly mentioned struggles I see...
The path to getting legit – in your words
I get a LOT of questions each and every week about how to get started as a maker who wants to open a business. What’s the best path forward? Do I have to get a sales tax permit? Can I wait to open a biz bank account until I have steady sales? How is this going to...
Setting financial goals for success in 2019
I’ve been harping about year-end approaching for a while around here, mostly for tax purposes. But with the beginning of a new year around the corner, that also means it’s time for something else – setting goals for your business. “Goal setting” seems to be a trendy...
Get Educated – The Best Resources to Learn More about Accounting & Taxes
Understanding how to start a new creative business can be a daunting task, especially if you don’t have a background in accounting or business. We have so many questions when we first set up shop – what do I need to take care of on the legal side of things? How do I...
How to Pay Yourself – {part 2: Methods & Mindset}
Last week I answered a question I get a lot – how do I pay myself? What’s the right way to do it? If you missed that post, catch up here. That post was all about the rules & logistics of paying yourself as a sole proprietor, and how it affects your bookkeeping...
How to Pay Yourself {Part 1: Logistics & Bookkeeping}
Today let’s address a question I see quite often: How do I pay myself? As a shop owner who also happens to be an accountant, sometimes I lose touch of the questions my non-accountant friends have about running a biz. This one happens to be one of them, and it’s high...
Five Financial Mistakes Etsy Sellers Make
As a CPA, maker, and Etsy seller myself, I’m well-versed in the financial mistakes that many Etsy sellers make. I’ve been helping makers and creative entrepreneurs get their finances in gear since 2015. So today, I’d like to briefly walk through the top five financial...
How to Automate & Streamline your Order Fulfillment
One of the challenges of selling handmade goods online is juggling your orders. Keeping customization requests organized, making sure items get created, packaged and shipped on time, and handling incoming orders from multiple online storefronts can get real confusing,...
Using Asana to Automate Your Bookkeeping
If you’ve been following me for a while, you probably know that I love this little productivity tool called ASANA. It’s actually a pretty powerful tool and it’s totally, completely FREE. Today I wanted to combine my love of Asana and bookkeeping and share an awesome...
Year End Inventory Workshop
Right around the end of the year, you may start hearing a lot about counting your inventory. Today I’m hosting an Inventory Crash Course Workshop, which is my fancy way of saying I filmed a video answering the big questions I see about year-end inventory. This is my...
Six reasons you probably need to raise your prices ASAP
Today’s post comes to you from my friend and fellow creative Danielle Spurge from Merriweather Council. Danielle is a maker maven known for helping turn others’ crafty tendencies into profits. Today Danielle shares a bit of tough love with us when it comes to pricing...
Quarterly Check-Up for Your Biz
It’s the end of another quarter! Where the heck is the time going?! The end of a quarter (or the beginning of a fresh, new one) is a great time to catch up on mundane tasks that you’ve been putting off (bookkeeping, anyone?), check in on your progress towards your...
Pricing Handmade Goods – Re-examining Your Price Formula
So you try your hand at one of those suggested pricing formulas for your handmade goods, and the resulting price seems crazy high. Nobody’s going to buy your product for that price! What’s a handmade seller to do? This post is a continuation of our series on pricing...
How to Use Quizzes to Grow Your Biz
A few weeks ago I got the chance to partner with a quiz-building tool called Interact. I have loved working with them, and the experience really got me thinking about how handmade sellers can use quizzes in unique ways to grow their business. So today, I’m excited to...
How to Start an Etsy Shop {in less than a week!}
Today I am excited to host Steph from Zero to Biz. Steph founded Zero to Biz as a passion project after seeing her own dreams come true. It all started with a few invitation designs and an Etsy shop. She used the platform to turn her hobby into a money-making business...
What is my tax ID number? EIN vs. Sales Tax ID
For this Creative Accounting post, I’m going to discuss something I’ve seen lots of confusion about on the Etsy forums and out on the inter webs – your tax ID number…and what exactly it is. Going into business and being a small biz owner opens up the door to a whole...
Getting a Business Bank Account
All information on this site is provided for general education purposes only and may not reflect changes in federal or state laws. It is not intended to be relied upon as legal, accounting, or tax advice. Please read my full disclaimer regarding this topic. If you’re...
Organizing Financial Paperwork for Taxes
I recently discussed how to tackle your finances and bookkeeping if you’ve fallen behind this year. Today, I’m talking more in depth about getting your financial paperwork organized for year-end so that you’re ready for tax prep. This applies whether you plan to do...
Inventory 101 for makers – what is cost of goods sold?
Hola! I hope you’ve read part one of my Inventory 101 series, which covers all the ins and outs of inventory. Click over here to see what should be included in inventory, how to properly track & record inventory, and whether you as a maker even need to deal with...
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This is such a great resource! I was always intimidated by the thought of using spreadsheets. This has simplified it and made it do-able!
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