You want nothing more than to focus on your artistic
career.
You don’t want un-necessary distractions. You
certainly don’t
have time to start your own business. After all, you
need to
focus your energy on your artistic business. The
question is
WHAT energy? Do you really have the energy left
after
waiting tables half the night to then go into an
audition and
perform well the next day? Did you even have the
choice of
whether you worked that evening or not?
Earning a living while still remaining independent
is probably
the biggest challenge faced by most artists. For
this reason, I
believe you should consider putting at least some of
your
energy into starting a side business that can support
your
artistic career.
There is no way I am going to sit here and tell you
that it is
easy to start and run your own business. There is a
lot of
hard work involved. However, the payoffs are
immense.
Why? Because you are your own boss and that
makes all the
difference in the world. No matter what job you are
working,
who makes the real money? The boss. Who decides
if and
when to give you a raise? The boss. Who decides
when you
are going to work? The boss. Who decides if and
when you
get a vacation? The boss. Who decides whether or
not you
get to keep your job? The boss. Now tell me this.
Why
wouldn’t you want to be the boss? Then you
will
make the
real money, be able to give yourself a raise any time
you
want, schedule your work anytime you want (which
means
around the needs of your artistic career), and have
the
security of knowing no one can fire you.
Having your own business will always provide you
with a
greater opportunity to earn more money simply by
virtue of
the fact that you will be the boss. However,
there are also
significant tax benefits to owning your own business,
which
allows you to KEEP more of the money that you
earn. Let’s
take a very simple example. Let’s say that you have
a job
that pays you a salary of $15,000 per year.
Subtract the
30% you will pay in taxes ($4,500). Now assume
that you
travel 10 miles per day getting to and from work
($750). If
you spend around $5 per day on lunch that will total
$1,250
and people with jobs tend to spend more money in
general
eating out, so let’s add another $1,000 in food
expenses for
the year. Without even factoring in things like
special work
clothes, day care (if you have children), etc. - you
are
already at a net take home pay of only $7,500.
That’s 50%
of your earnings! (Next time you are looking at a
part time
job – divide the salary offered by 50% and see how
excited
you are about taking it!)
Now, what if you earned that same $15,000 in a
home based
business? Before paying taxes, you would get
to
subtract
your deductible expenses. If you drove the same
amount as
with the job – only to and from business meetings –
that
would be the same $750 Suppose you spent more on
meals
- $10 per day (2,500) – but these were all business
lunches
which would mean you could deduct 50% or (1,250).
Even if
all of your other legal deductions only added up to
another
$1,000 (businesses allow for numerous deductions:
home
office, some entertainment, supplies, travel,
education, etc.)
You would have a total of $3,000 in deductible
expenses (car
+ lunches + other) and would therefore only be taxed
on
$12,000 earnings. The self employment tax is only
15%
($1,800). Now, subtract the remaining $1,250 (the
portion of
your lunches that were not deductible) and you are
left
taking home $9,950.00. That amounts to 25%
more money
AND you work for yourself! Obviously I have
simplified this
and you would definitely consult with an accountant
when
handling your business taxes, but this should
certainly give
you something to think about!
Do you want another benefit to being an
entrepreneur? Don’t forget that your artistic career
is also a
business and has to be run like one if you want to be
successful. What better way to hone your skills than
by
building a part-time, side enterprise and making
money at the
same time?
You may be thinking “Doesn’t it cost a lot of
money
to start a
business and take a long time to begin
making
money?” Not necessarily. It depends on what
type
of a
business you decide to run. For instance, if you
have good
writing skills, you could work as a part-time freelance
writer.
Do you type? Start a secretarial service. Substitute
teach?
Consider a tutoring company. For each of these
examples
(and there are countless more), you will put very
little
money down and you can begin to make money
almost
immediately. The internet is also loaded with
business
opportunities (although you would be wise to do your
research so that you can distinguish the scams from
the real
money-makers).
All in all, running your own business is going to be
far more
rewarding than working for someone else. You
will have all
the advantages listed above and you will have the
satisfaction of seeing something you created grow
and
develop. Even when your artistic career takes off
your
business can be a nice side income. When you work
in a job
you don’t like, it will sap your energy. This is energy
you
could put into the development of your artistic
career as well
as building a business that is of real benefit to you.
You will
also be far happier. So go for it! What have you got
to lose?
