Taxes are taxing!

Hello all!

It’s that time of year again; time for me to file my yearly sales tax. This is both a relaxing and frustrating task at the same time. Seriously!

For those of us who earn income by being creative, the mental load is exhausting after a while. Is this a good color combination? Will this land with my target audience? Is my price point too high? Do I need to showcase these under glass? Am I focusing on the wrong gems?

I actually do enjoy my ledger entries. It is a concrete, linear task that helps me clear my head doing a consistent task that produces steady results. But after I crossed a certain threshold of success, I started experiencing diminishing returns. I travel to events at least 35 weeks out of the year, so instead of just sales I have lodging, mileage, expense receipts, and depreciation to factor in. And then there are materials to enter. And working with high volume-low cost sales, I order ALL THE TIME! Do I over order? Under order?

It is getting to the point where I am sacrificing studio time for back office time. And this is a huge frustration for me because I can both see and feel the time waste. Granted, entering sales is necessary, but what takes me 2 hours could take a designated office worker one hour, meaning I am costing myself money in that the estimated hourly wage I factor in for myself for jewelry creation is more than I could reasonably pay a contractor to help out.

So where does that leave me? Shopping my options. I am not sure if I can find an online software solution, if I should outsource to a bookkeeping firm, or if I should hire a dedicated contractor. I am at the next step of growth, and scared to share my procedures with anyone else, but knowing I need to because I am growing and have to let people in who can help. It is scary to be losing control somewhat, and I am going to miss the cozy, simple, starting out days of easy calculations and small operations.

I have to do it, though. Because I HATE using the State of Iowa sales tax platform! I am so sick of the meta language and lack of user convenience. If I were to offer any advice to other crafters, and granted I AM NOT offering advice, just my own observation for informational use, make sure you know how to track your sales tax. It is a vital first step in preparing for tax season, and will help you track trends in your business. And bite the bullet and get to know your state’s online platforms. It will make the decision about whether or not to hand over control of your filings so much easier. While also making it harder. And very taxing!