When I was pregnant, I bought maternity clothes that were basic items that could be paired with other pieces of clothing I had that would still fit me as my body grew. I was planning on working as long as I could into my pregnancy, so one of the items that I purchased was a maternity dress that could be either dressed up or down dependent upon the occasion. I probably wore my maternity dress a lot more than any of my other pieces of clothing except for my maternity jeans. As with non-pregnant jeans, maternity jeans are also a staple of a lot of people’s wardrobes. Jeans are a basic item to wear, and this does not change with being pregnant.
My maternity jeans were easily paired with a bigger shirt of mine, or even one of my husband’s shirts. If I did not have his wardrobe to choose from during the last nine months, I am not sure what I would have done. I also was able to get some very stylish maternity tops, so I was not hurting for good clothes to wear. I love the fact that even as your body changes you can still find stores with very stylish pieces of maternity clothing to wear.
When you have a home business, you are in some ways doubling your risk and the price you will pay if someone breaks in. Because your home and your business share space, you will lose not only your personal valuables, but those associated with your business — equipment as well as irreplaceable financial data and customer information.
Home security systems are important even for people without home businesses, but having one makes it doubly important. And because investing in an ADT home security system protects your business as well as your home, you can write off a percentage of it as a business expense IF you are also claiming the home office deduction.
And don’t think that you’re not at risk because of the neighborhood you live in. Crime statistics show that homes can still get burglarized even when the neighborhood has low crime in general. Thieves don’t have to live somewhere in order to commit crimes there — and in fact, in the case of burglaries they probably don’t. So even if you live in the best neighborhood in Washington, I’d still recommend looking into ADT in Seattle.
Your business is your livelihood — why wouldn’t you protect it?
One of the things that I have noticed over the last couple of years at college is that nothing really changes. Sure, there are different students each year, but for the most part, school is the same as it was when I started two years ago.
I would have fought for that point of view and been right up until today. You see, there was an email sent out to us students about the new document storage practices that were going to be followed at our college and how their choices could affect our privacy.
Now, I am not usually one to read through these sorts of things, but after my aunt had her identity stolen just last year, I have been a little bit more concerned with my private information.
Reading through the email, I learned that they had implemented some new document scanning solutions to digitize our records to both make it easier to store as well as being more proactive about their effect on the environment.
Though I am a little leery of the move, I think that a college this size would have to ensure that the electronic document management systems they used were safe, right?
Taking a vacation is difficult to do when you are self-employed or the sole proprietor of your own business. However, just because you own a small business doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever be able to go on vacation. You ought to be just as able to go on your dream holiday in Lake Louise, Canada or go on a train trip in Canada as the next person.
Of course, for the sake of your business you will have to take certain extra precautions. Here are a few tips for planning vacation time as a sole proprietor.
Give clients plenty of notice. For example, as a freelance writer I need to let clients know as soon as possible if I won’t be around to take on work at a certain time. I usually like to give my clients at least a month’s notice when possible.
Have a plan for handling business while you’re gone. If you have an ecommerce website and you are concerned about orders being placed while you are gone, have an employee or a friend monitor the business and take care of any orders that come in. You might also want to have a way for employees and/or clients to get a hold of you in an emergency. For instance, you could commit to checking your email once a day or once every other day, or give clients a colleague’s contact information in case of an emergency.
Be back at work when you say you will. This is the hardest part for me. It’s easy to say you’ll be back at work the next day, but I usually find that it takes a few days to get back into your old work routines. It is best to anticipate this delay and build a cushion into your time estimates when telling clients your return date.
Just because you own a business doesn’t mean you’ll never get to go on vacation, but it definitely does make it harder to get away. Following these tips should help you to plan your vacation time while keeping in mind the needs of your business!
A friend of mine who is really into beading and making jewelry recently opened an Etsy shop where she could sell her stuff. Beading started out as just a hobby for her, but she doesn’t really wear jewelry, so she decided she needed to be able to do something with the things she makes.
Even your hobbies can be lucrative if you turn them into a business. For example, say you recycle glass jars and make homemade scented jar candles. Brick-and-mortar candle stores often have an expensive overhead (i.e., rent, employee wages, etc.), so you will probably find it much more lucrative to sell your candles someplace like Etsy.
The important thing is to make sure you run it like a business. If the IRS classifies it as a hobby, you cannot deduct business expenses, such as the cost of the materials used to make your jar candles. However, if you keep close track of your business income and expenses, and can demonstrate that you are trying to make a profit (even if you aren’t yet), you should be classified as a small business, and therefore able to deduct your expenses from your gross income.
My friend would like me to add that if you decide to turn your hobby into a business, Etsy is a great place to sell things. Since they specialize in handmade things, it’ll be easier to attract your target market on Etsy than on sites like eBay; and the fees are much more reasonable than some other third-party ecommerce sites.
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