Setting Up A Creative Business: Let’s Get Legal And Legit | Goodtype | Skillshare
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Setting Up A Creative Business: Let’s Get Legal And Legit

teacher avatar Goodtype, Championing good type & good business

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      Introduction

      1:26

    • 2.

      Prepare Your Business to Operate

      6:13

    • 3.

      Setting Up Your Finances

      7:17

    • 4.

      Financial Goals & Planning

      6:23

    • 5.

      Setting Up Systems & Getting Organized

      5:02

    • 6.

      Hiring Help & Protecting Your Mental Health

      5:13

    • 7.

      Wrapping Up

      1:12

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About This Class

Are you ready to make money from your art but find yourself totally overwhelmed by all the stuff that goes into setting up a business? Have you googled "How to Start an Art Business," only to hyperventilate when you see the confusing and conflicting search results? Are you looking for all of the info...all in one place?

If you're ready to make sure your business is being set up properly and legally, this is the class for you! 

After running their own art businesses and realizing how little educational support there was out there for creative entrepreneurs, Katie and Ilana, co-owners of Goodtype (a community of over one million creatives), have made it their mission to make business less scary for artists. They're here to teach you all the things they wished someone would have spelled out for them when they first started—from the paperwork you'll need to fill out to the best ways to organize your finances like a CEO.

By the end of this class, you'll...

  • Have an understanding of basic business structures and which one is right for you
  • Understand types of taxes and how to pay them
  • Be able to set up your own financial systems 
  • Know how to set smart goals & make plans to reach them
  • Discover tools and workflows that real CEOs use daily

You'll walk away with...

  • The exact actions you'll take over the next 90 days to meet your business' goals

This class is perfect for any creatives who are ready to start an art-based business but unsure of the steps they need to take to get everything up and running. You won't need any materials other than our provided workbook!

Meet Your Teacher

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Goodtype

Championing good type & good business

Top Teacher

Goodtype is a place for type, graphic design, and illustration lovers to connect, nerd out, and level up.

Katie Johnson and Ilana Griffo, Goodtype's co-owners, are two self-employed lettering artists who joined forces to teach artists how to run their own businesses and craft careers they truly love.

Goodtype has been serving up inspiration and connecting artists since 2013 and continues to be a safe place for anyone who loves typography. Whether you're searching for a friend to send you feedback, a class to boost your confidence, or a hand to help you build your business, Katie & Ilana are here to connect you to the resources you need so you can take that next step forward.

Thanks for being here. Now l... See full profile

Level: Beginner

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Transcripts

1. Introduction: So, you're ready to start an art business, but how do you make it legit? How do you cross the t's and dot the eyes so everything's official. Becoming a business owner often feels scary and overwhelming, so we're going to break it all down for you to make sure you're set up properly to start making money from your art. Hi. I'm Katie. And I'm Malana. We're the two designers and co owners behind Good Type, a community of over 1 million creatives. Years ago, Katie and I both left our jobs as our directors to become self employed artists, and we quickly learned more about S corps, estimated tax payments, contract terms, and all the things about running a business that we really never thought we'd need to know. The more time we spent learning this stuff, the more we realized how overwhelming it can feel and how much more accessible it should be for artists. And now that we've worked through it ourselves, we want to share what we've learned with you. In this class, we'll help you properly set up your own artist. We'll help you figure out which business structure is right for you and give you a checklist of what steps to take to get started. We'll get your finances set up next and we'll cover how to manage your business with system. You'll learn how to delegate tax if you need to and what tools you can use to really make your life so much easier. This class is all about giving you the tools and resources to confidently call yourself a business owner and make money doing the work that you love. So without further ado, let's get started. 2. Prepare Your Business to Operate: First thing we're going to do is talk about business structures. In the United States, there are two really common business structures that self employed artists usually consider. We're going to break those down. There are several others that we won't really cover in class today because we found that they're really not common for self employed artists who are just starting out. The two business structures that we're going to focus on today are sole proprietorships, which are also called Sole props, and LLCs, which is a limited liability company. You can always talk to a business attorney to discuss what entity would be best for you if you still have questions about your specific situation. We've got to include a disclaimer here that we are not attorneys, and this information is definitely not direct legal advice. When we say business structure, we're really referring to how the government and the IRS look at your business. Those business structures you choose will affect how you are taxed and what level of liability protection you may have. We also want to make a note that we are located in the US. And so if you live outside the US, you definitely want to check the rules in your location. The first structure we're going to look at is a sole proprietorship, and it's really, really easy to set up. In fact, you actually don't have to file any paperwork. You just have to start doing business, AKA, selling something. In this case, there's really no separation from you and your business, which means that you're personally liable for the business debt or loss. This also means that if your business was sued, your personal assets are on the line. However, it's really not all bad. You may find that your line of work isn't particularly risky. If you're doing something that is very unlikely to result in a lawsuit, maybe injure someone, you may not need that extra liability protection. Both Katie and I have personal businesses as lettering artists and illustrators, and those are both set up as sole proprietorships. LLCs or limited liability companies are another really, really popular business entity for self employed artists. You've probably heard the term LLC tossed around a lot, and you may think you need one, but that's just not always the case. One really big difference between a sole prop and an LLC is that an LLC separates you from your business and protects you from the liabilities your business may face. If your business were to file for bankruptcy or a lawsuit, for example, your personal assets, and your income would still be protected. To tap into these extra protections, setting up an LLC is a bit more complicated and costly than a sole proprietorship. Creating an LLC does differ a bit state by state, but it usually costs under $500 to set up, and there's typically a yearly fee in most states. Katie lives in Texas, where there's no annual fee for an LLC. So you definitely need to check your own states regulations and requirements to know exactly what your costs are going to be. Filing an LLC does require some paperwork, and the best place to check those requirements is your local government website. We've both created several LLCs, and we typically suggest working with a lawyer to prepare and submit the documents. We definitely recommend doing that if you feel uncomfortable, or just want to have the peace of mind that it's actually set up properly. Another important keyword to know is DBA, and this stands for doing business as. Registering a DBA allows you to do business under a name that is different from your legal name. So if you decide to work as a sole proprietorship, you'll need a DBA if you're using a business name. A really good example is Katie's lettering business is a sole prop and her business name, DBA is Katie Made that. Since that name is different from Katie's given name. I know it's shocking. That's not her last name. She had to file a DBA with her local county clerk. However, if you've decided to file as an LLC, your LLC will be the name you're doing business under, so you won't need to also file for a DBA. If you decide to change your name or use multiple names under your LLC, you will in fact need to file for a DBA. Here's an example of when that might happen. When we first filed for our LLC, we registered our name as Artist Mean Business. Later, we filed a DBA to change our name to Good Type. DBAs are filed per state. So if you're ready to file, check your state website for the appropriate steps. It's really important to know that this is not the same as trademarking. It's a whole different conversation if you want trademark protection on your name. We want to mention one more entity that you may have heard about before, and that's in S corp. This one's a little more complicated, so we're going to keep it pretty top level. Because of the way taxation works for S corps, your art business could actually save money on taxes with this structure if you're earning over a certain amount in profits. You should definitely consult with a CPA about this if you want to learn more, since it's really personalized to your own situation. CPA is a certified accountant, and they definitely come in handy for this and tons of other questions you might have about finances and taxes. Okay, before we move on, there's one more step we really want you to take. Once you've determined which business entity makes the most sense for you, it's time to get an EIN or employer identification number. This is like a social security number for your business, and we really like setting these up right away because it allows you to avoid putting your personal Social Security number on all the forms you need to fill out. To file for an EIN in the US, just head to the IRS website and submit an application. It is totally free. Here's a quick summary of all the things we just covered, and the first steps you need to take to make your business legit if you're in the US. Pick your business structure, probably either a sole proprietorship or an LLC. If you picked an LLC, file the necessary paperwork and pay the fees, and if you picked a sole proprietorship, just start doing business. If you chose a sole proprietorship and you're using a different name from your own name, go ahead and file that DBA. And we want you to register for your EIN with the IRS. We recommend finding a lawyer that specializes in working with creatives or small businesses when you're just in the beginning stages of your business journey. We know it sounds really scary and expensive to work with a lawyer, but it can actually be pretty affordable when you're just hiring them to give you a small bit of guidance or just to fire your LLC paperwork, for example. Plus, it gives you the peace of mind, and it is well worth it to have that. If you're still totally freaked out, you can answer a lot of questions with the good old Google Search or by calling your local government offices if you have the time and patience. But perhaps to you for getting through this lesson, we've included these steps in the class materials as well. So make sure you download that and check them off as you complete them. Let's move on to the next lesson. 3. Setting Up Your Finances: Now that you know what type of business entity you are and you filled out the appropriate paperwork, it's time to set up a bank account. Y, for money. We strongly recommend setting up a separate bank account from your personal one right from the beginning so that you can really easily track your earning and spending. We've linked our favorite small business bank account and credit card under the project and Resources tab below. We already mentioned how helpful it can be to have a CPA certified public accountant that you can call. So if you haven't found one yet, we really want to encourage you to do that now. Ask local friends for referrals and really start to build a relationship so that you don't want to just like pull your hair out during tax season. Yes, it costs money to have someone help you with your taxes, but it is so worth it. Taxes do unfortunately become complicated when you start a business, and getting help is a necessary expense. Budget it in now and it will be so much less of a headache later. We promise. We highly suggest setting up your 1 hour meeting with a CPA as soon as you begin working with them, so you can ask them all your questions at once. If they're nice, they may even include that session for free if you're already planning to file taxes with them. We'll include a summary of questions that you should ask your CPA at the end of this lesson and in the class materials. Next, we recommend getting some kind of accounting software to keep your finances organized. And if you're up for the challenge and you want to save money, you can use a simple spreadsheet to track all your expenses and income manually. Otherwise, you can look into any app like QuickBooks or any of the ones listed in the resources town. The most important thing is to make sure your platform of choice will sync directly with your bank account. Once you find a system or software that works for you, your job will be to categorize your transactions, whether it's an income or an expense. These categories will be so important when it comes time for taxes, especially because they'll tell you what kind of deductions you can take. We'll talk more about what a deduction is and how you can utilize them in just a minute. It's safe to say that most people find tax season pretty stressful. So we're going to give you a few things to keep in mind to help you clarify and ease the tension around taxes. First, there are several types of taxes to be aware of. So let's look at income tax and sales tax. Income tax is a tax for anyone that brings in income. So if you're making money, you have to pay this. When you work a traditional job with payroll, these taxes are already taken out of your paycheck. But when you're self employed, you need to pay them yourself, which is a major buzz kill. You'll probably need to pay this tax by dividing the amount you expect to owe into four quarterly estimated payments. You can set these up on the IRS website to automatically come out of your bank account each quarter, or you can pay them manually. Then when it's time to file your tax return, you either get a refund if you overpaid or you'll owe more for taxes that were underpaid. Do you want to know how much to pay? Great question for your CPA. Sales tax is the other tax we really want to talk about, and it's a tax on goods and on some services collected at the time of the sale. You have to collect the tax from the customer, and then you have to pass that collected tax onto the state. The amount of tax you need to collect is actually different per state, and you usually only charge sales tax to people who live in the same state that you live in. Again, because the rules are based on where you live and what you're selling, a CPA will be such a great resource to help you clarify everything here. If you do determine that you're selling a product that requires you to collect sales tax, you'll also need to file for a sales tax permit. This is a really simple process, and you can actually do it right through the state government website. It gives you permission to collect sales tax. And once you collect that tax from the customer, you have to then, again, pass it on to the state government. So if you're fully self employed, you should talk to your CPA about retirement, maybe setting up a Roth or traditional IRA, so you can save for when that time comes. They'll be able to advise you on what makes the most sense for your in Okay, now we get to the fund stuff. We get to talk about write offs. Unlike what David from our favorite show, ***** Creek, Thanks, tax write offs are definitely not where you get fully reimbursed for whatever you buy for your business. I know it's shocking. However, legitimate business expenses can be deducted to reduce your taxable income. While this definitely will not magically wipe away hundreds and thousands of dollars. It is really important to make sure you're taking advantage of every opportunity for a deduction. And this is another great place to tap into your CPA. There's a really huge range of items that contribute to your deductions, and that's why learning to categorize your income and expenses correctly, like we mentioned earlier, is so important. Business expenses such as rent, utilities, advertising, office supplies, they all fall into this category and are considered deductions. So if you work from home, you can also deduct a portion of your rent or mortgage insurance policy, and other expenses related to the space as well. If you're traveling for work, maybe to see a client or maybe a conference, your meals, your mileage, and several other expenses related to that travel will also contribute to your deductions. Plus, if you regularly use your car for work, you should be tracking your mileage, and there are tons of apps that allow you to do that. All of those trips to the post office or print shop can really add up. Other deductions might include health insurance premiums, retirement contributions, business interests, and taxes, and professional fees. And again, that CPA is there to guide you through this and help make sure you're taking advantage of every opportunity to lower your taxable income so you can categorize your expenses accordingly. We requested a session with our CPA to have them go through a month of finances and show us how to categorize them, which was really helpful. And now we use a virtual service that does this for us and sends us a message anytime they aren't sure of how to categorize something. That was a ton of information. So let's summarize and remind you what conversations you should be having with your CPA. First, you're going to open that business bank account and keep that totally separate from your personal finances. Anytime you make or spend money for your business, it should go directly through this account. Next, we want you to find that CPA, and we want you to set up your accounting software or system to track your spending and start categorizing your transactions. And we want you to figure out how much money you should be paying for your quarterly estimated tax payments and pay those throughout the year. You should also figure out if you need to charge sales tax, and if you do, then you'll need to apply for that sales tax permit and make sure you're paying those sales taxes. Decide what retirement account you should get, open the account, and start investing your money. As we said, all these steps are very customized to your specific situation. There really is no substitute for having this conversation with an accountant? Here are some important questions you can bring to your accountant when you meet with them. Do I need to be paying quarterly estimated payments? If so, how much? Do I owe sales tax? What percentage sales tax do I need to charge? Do I only need to charge sales tax to customers in my state? And where do I pay it and how often? How about retirement? What retirement account makes the most sense for me, and how do I open it? What else do you need from me so that we'll have an easier time when it comes to tax season. We know this is a lot to manage. But once you get your system up and in place, it'll be so much easier. You can lean on your accountant for help and ask other small business owners when you get stuck. You're not alone, and this is a really tricky area for everyone, but you've got this onward. 4. Financial Goals & Planning: Money talk can feel kind of gross, but it really shouldn't. If you don't have money coming in, you don't have a business. So this discussion really should be had early and often. How do you plan your finances? What are your goals and the milestones you're trying to reach along the way. These are the pillars of your business plan. We're going to tackle this by breaking it down into 90 day financial goals because baby steps. This whole plan is about taking a big, scary goal and making it much more bite size and manageable. So let's get out your workbooks and talk money already. Now, this does involve some math, but it's simple, and you're allowed to use a calculator. Let's find out first the amount of money you'll need to make in a year, and then we're going to divide it to find out how much you need to make for your 90 day plan. So first, figure out the expenses that you have for your business. This should be pretty simple, especially if you're already using a bookkeeping app. So consider rents, Internet, any apps you're paying for, any cost of inventory, contractors that you hire, services you use, et cetera. So if the money your business brings in is exactly the same amount that your expenses cost you, you'd break even. You'd make $0 in profit, but we don't want to do that. We want you to make a profit so you can pay yourself and reinvest in your business. So the next step is to figure out what that profit number is that you want. So Do you want a $50,000 salary? Maybe 80,000, maybe more. And then how much extra do you want to bring in to reinvest in your business or put into savings? Remember, you're going to have to pay taxes on this, unfortunately. So if your number is $100,000, you're not going to get all that money in cash just ready to spend? You may owe as much as 30% in taxes. So Make sure you include enough buffer so that you'll have what you need even after tax. Whatever that total profit number is for you, your salary plus profit, add it on top of your expenses, and that is the total number your business needs to make. That's your total revenue goal for the year. One more time for the people in the back, your expenses plus the profit you want to make equals your revenue goal. We're going to take that figure of how much you need to make in a year, and then we're going to divide it by four. There are roughly 490 day periods in a year, 90 days is close to a quarter, so that's how we like to think of it. So in this example, let's say our yearly revenue goal is $100,000. So we're going to divide that into four quarters. And now in this 90 day period, we only need to make $25,000. That may sound like a lot to you, but, at least it's a little more helpful and a little less scary. And instead of thinking about my plan for a whole year, now I'm just concentrating on this 90 days and this $25,000 goal. We can do this. Now, let's break it down even further to help us know exactly what actions to take and where to focus to hit those goals. You may have multiple income streams, or you may just have one. Either way, for each income stream, we need to know, are we aiming for ten sales? Or are we aiming for 100 sales? That's a very big difference. So let's figure it out. To decide how many sales we need to make for each income stream, we need to consider what the average price is for each sale. So let's look at freelancing, for example. Let's say you have a $5,000 branding package that is your most popular package. Well, if our total revenue goal is $25,000 for the quarter, and your main service is branding, you need to sell five branding packages at $5,000 each to reach that goal. Now, let's imagine you're an artist who licenses your art. Let's say the average amount you can get from licensing your art for a greeting card is about $750. And greeting cards are your biggest market. Maybe licensing is just one of your income streams, and you decide you'd like to make $5,000 of your total $25,000 revenue goal for this quarter from licensing. Well, if we do the math, we see that you would need to sell about seven cards at that $750 average to hit your goal. We like to define goals like this, so we have a really clear understanding of when we're on track and when we're not. And if something doesn't work on paper, it's definitely not going to work in real life. For example, if I want to sell stickers at $2 each, but I see I'd have to sell 12,500 stickers to make my $25,000 revenue goal, I might put a pause on that idea and find something that works a little bit better for me. Again, just remember, this needs to be a realistic goal for you and your business, whatever that looks like. Now that we know the sales and revenue goals that make sense for our business, we can make a plan that will help us achieve those goals. So when we go to sit down at the computer in the morning, we're not meandering. We're not unsure about what we should do. So L et's say you ran the numbers and figured out, you need to book three freelance clients to meet your goal. Now it's time to reverse engineer the outcome and figure out how you're actually going to make that happen. Some examples of steps you might need to take might be send 100 outreach e mails to potential clients within that 90 days or offer past clients a referral bonus for bringing you new business, or maybe you're working on pinning new work to Pinterest and making sure you're using keywords, so people are going to start finding you from those searches. These could all be actions you can take that move the needle forward towards these financial goals that you just set. So for your class project, go ahead and pick out a few of these actions you really want to prioritize and write them down in the 90 day accountability sheet we've provided in the class materials. Then upload it to the class project area. And this way, you'll feel more committed to these actions, and you'll be more motivated to stick with them and see them through. Once you have your financial goals and the actions you need to take to reach them, it's time to actually do the work. That means you need a system for working through the tasks. How do you execute and organize your to do list? How do you, as a business owner, get stuff done? Let's talk about it in the next lesson. 5. Setting Up Systems & Getting Organized: For anything like us, you probably have a lot of really crazy ideas, open projects, big goals, and sometimes it feels impossible to keep track of them all. From the passion project you want to focus on to giving your studio a total makeover, redoing your entire website, starting a line of Merch. We totally get it. That on top of all your client work, commissions, or whatever else it can be. Is a lot to manage. And as someone with ADHD, I've learned a lot of tricks that help me manage all my ideas and prioritize my existing projects without letting something fall through the cracks. There are so many systems out there, and there is no one perfect answer that can do everything. You will likely be using a combination of different systems to create your own workflow. But we hope you don't waste too much time comparing different apps. We really want you to pick one and just get started. We really like to use notion to keep track of all of our random ideas, keep our standard operating procedures, tasks, social content, events, you name it. We keep it all organized within notion. Everyone on our team has access to it so we can communicate really easily there. If you're not familiar with Notion, it's kind of like the ultimate dashboard for your business that you can really mold into whatever you want it to be. We actually made our own notion template with Emily who works on our team, and it's available to purchase right on our website. So if you'd like to use the exact system we use, can. Here's a look at how our template is set up. We keep the most important things that we need to see first ns right on the main page. So our clients and projects are laid out first so we can check the status and click into the pages to get more information. Then we have our schedule and at a glance, so we can know exactly what projects we've got to work on and when they're due. Or to do list then breaks down our daily tasks, which we prioritize by importance. We label them, A list, B list or C list. We like to plan our social content calendar right on Notion two, and we keep anything else that we might need in the folders that are on the sides. I really like to start my day by doing really small and easy tasks, and then I break up the rest of the day into bigger, more focused chunks of time. And anything on that A list is top priority with an upcoming deadline. And anything on MB list is either next in the queue or important, but not urgent. The C list is a place to keep track of really big ideas that aren't urgent or important at the moment. And when I do my quarterly reflections, I can check and see if any of the things on the C list need to be moved up or maybe moved off the list entirely. Another tool I use to figure out my priorities is the Eisenhower matrix. The Collins and rows are for importance and urgency, and this really helps me to figure out which quadrant my tasks fall into. The four quadrants really boil down to do, schedule, delegate and delete. Once I figure out where my idea or task lies on the matrix, it's so much easier to understand and be honest with myself about how to prioritize it. This really helps me figure out if something is actually important and maybe a needle mover for my business, or if it just feels really exciting. Exciting things are important too, but they might just need to be completed after some more top priority tasks are handled. In addition to all of these tools, we use a ton of apps and systems to run our operations. We use Slack for communicating between our team members. We use Google Drive for storing files. We use Convert Kit for managing our e mails. Circle for hosting the courses, we teach square space for hosting our web account, Thrive cart for accepting payments from customers and Zapiir along with a few other apps. Zapiir allows most of our apps to talk to each other. For example, we can set up a Zap so that when someone purchases a course from our online cart, they're immediately tagged correctly in our mailing list. They're added to an e mail sequence and sent instructions to log in to our course platform. There are so many apps and integrations, and we have yet to find one that is like a one stop shop that can do everything for us. But there are more options out there lately that are trying to combine some of these capabilities. Don't feel like you need to take advantage of all the fancy tools you can find online just for kicks. You can start really, really small and slowly integrate new features once you really know what you need. I don't know a single creative business owner who hasn't gone through a total systems overhaul. Maybe they've switched e mail list providers or other back end projects in the past few years. I've seen so many people have to make these changes. So start small, and as you grow, you will pipot. Don't forget that what systems work for someone else might be what you need for your business. We all have different ways of working. Even Katie and I have different ways we work, and there are so many ways that the same tools can really be personalized. Learning about your own workflow preferences is really important, and this can be a really, really great place to ask for help. Now is your time to think through the systems, workflows and apps you'll need to put in place to manage your business. Take a moment to fill out the section in your workbook, and then we'll move on to the next lesson. 6. Hiring Help & Protecting Your Mental Health: Care of your mental health is and should always be a priority. Thankfully, we've had years of experience to learn our own triggers and patterns, so we can hopefully prevent burnout or at least redirect it when it rears its head. As you get more comfortable working on your art business, you'll learn where you need to implement boundaries. And believe us, you need boundaries to preserve your mental health. You need breaks, time for self care, time for family. You need time to be offline, to decompress, and to stop thinking about work. When we first started out, this was really challenging, partly because we were hungry to grow, and we didn't want to miss an opportunity, and partly because we thought being a business owner meant, being on all the time. But too many times, we've over exerted ourselves or worked on the weekend or answered e mails at 10:00 P.M. And it has only led to burn out. Friend, not neglect your needs. It all adds up in the long run. So be a good boss and treat yourself the way you would want to be treated as an employee. Rest, recover, and say no, when you need to. We're doing creative work. Nothing is actually going to be an emergency. But money. You may be saying? Oh, yes, that guy. When we're in charge of our own income, and our actions directly affect how much we're able to bring in, we can get a lot more obsessive about how much we work. But again, we're focused on building a sustainable business here, not one that will run us right into the ground. So, in addition to working on mindset Here are some things you can do to help find balance. One of the things that really kept us in the burnout cycle for too long was the toxic thinking that we had to do everything for ourselves. While there are plenty of things in our business that only we can do, it turns out that there are a lot of ways we can ask for help. We already mentioned working with a CPA and an attorney, but we also have several other people we work with that help us manage and grow our business. Some of that comes in the form of apps and some comes in forms of contractors or employees. We have a podcast editor, a social media manager, and a web designer just to name a few. We use a ton of systems and apps every single day to help us get things done. We've even worked with virtual assistants when we need help with specific administrative tasks, or when we know our time would be better spent focused on something else. Also know plenty of other artists who hire production assistants or other designers to help them complete their client work. So that's something else you could consider if your workload is overwhelming. Investing money into hiring help is scary, but we've rarely done it and regretted it later. If you're going to hire help, just make sure you get to know the person a bit and take some time to vet them. They have references or examples of their work. Make sure you communicate clearly with them what your expectations are, and try starting with a trial period before you commit to any kind of long term relationship. We know you're really talented and you can do a lot of things, but you definitely can't do them all at the same time. You are no less valuable if you delegate or ask for help, and you can start with something small. Write down in your workbook, some of the parts of managing a business that cause you stress. You may want to prioritize getting help with those things first. Other thing you can do if you're feeling like you can't step away because your finances will suffer too much is to adjust the strategies you're using to make money. Can you set up an income stream that can make you passive income? So even while you're not physically working, you can be bringing in some extra cash. So, for example, maybe you can create a digital product or a course that can work in the background while you're doing client projects. You can also ask yourself, is there a way I can restructure my time, so I'm working more efficiently? They say time is money for a reason. Maybe you could stop taking calls with potential clients as soon as they contact you and implement an intake form instead to make sure there are more qualified, solid lead. Or maybe you could start packing all the orders from your online shop on the same day each week, so you're not constantly pulled away from the other tasks all the time. If you need more time to rest, how can you find it by restructuring your current workflow? It's a good habit to make a list of the things that help you feel rested and recovered, so you can build in the moments of those self care acts now, not when it's too late. Go ahead and write down in your workbook some self care acts that you can do and make sure to schedule them into your calendar and actually block off the time. I like to take my dog to the dog park and listen to a podcast while I walk. I schedule lunches with my friends or family during work days. I get a manicure once a month on a Friday during work hours. So make space for the fun stuff and enjoy the flexibility of being your own boss when you can. Overall, keep reminding yourself why you're doing this in the first place. You love making your art. So let's try to focus our business around that joy and when the stress inevitably comes, meet it with patience and give yourself a whole lot of grace. 7. Wrapping Up: Congratulations. You're a legit business owner. We hope you're feeling accomplished and ready to kick some major butt. We set out to work for ourselves, to really be in the driver's seat, and to be able to work on our own schedules, and spend more time doing what we really love, which is creating art. So let's get to it. Know some of the things we covered in class have been sitting on your to do list for way too long. And it's time to get them done, and honestly, out of the way, do not let those annoying tasks like filing for an LLC, be the thing that stands in your way. Use the systems and workflow suggestions we talked about to plan out those tasks and start checking them off your list today. We hope everything we covered in this class has made you feel more confident about what you need to do to run a successful professional business. You know, it can be intimidating, but the benefits of being your own boss can be so worth it. You can figure this out, especially if you follow the steps that we've laid out for you. Way to go for completing this class. Way to go. Make sure to upload your class project. And if you want to learn more head over to our other classes on Skillshare, we are so excited for you and your business. Go, be legit. To legit to quit. Yeah, yeah. Too legit. To legit to quit. Y, yay.