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Chitin posted:It's income, so yes. I don't sell enough personally (less than probably $5,000 a year) and almost all my transactions are cash. I'll never claim any of that on my taxes. At the point where I'm actually pulling in money that's hitting my soc (through a bank account/1099/invoice/po/etc) I will claim that amount plus any related expenses. But most people at the bottom end have no real incentive to go through all the bullshit related to taxes when the likelihood of any audit at that level is practically zero.
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Apr 26, 2012 19:38
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I'd suggest seeking a mentor or mentors before a business program. Outside of certain elite programs most business schools are just cash cows for universities and you really would, both financially and intellectually, be better off reading books. A mentor in your field will give you practical advice and help build your network in different directions.
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May 1, 2012 08:01
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the kawaiiest posted:It's not just a problem for designers. Illustrators have the exact same problem, and that paired with people underpricing their art and the sheer amount of kids just tracing photos and selling the resulting images for cheap to people who can't tell that they're being ripped off causes all sorts of issues. How can I compete with someone who's selling their art for five bucks? I have to pay rent and eat, and it's getting increasingly harder to make money as an artist. Everyone expects me to do spec or charge as little as XxbunnychanxX or whatever on deviantart. It feels like a lost cause. This, and all the other variants of it in this thread, boil down to one basic thing, which is that the business background of creative people is generally really lacking. First of all, setting yourself up to compete with "XXBunnyChanXX" is a lost cause. If that's what you're trying to do, you're operating in the wrong market. If you're trying to make a living wage of the Something Awful for sale forums, you're in the wrong place. You are not only wasting your time complaining about it, it demonstrates that at a fundamental level you are on the wrong track. All of the successful creative people I know, be they artists, designers, whatever, have a few things in common. One of them is that they price and sell work at a consistent level. That amount can vary over time, but they have a good idea of what they're willing to sell work for, and they make work to sell it at that price. Most of the artists I know have built up a client base over time and worked a second job to supplement their income while working OR they came out of a prestigious (the key being prestige, and these programs all required a significant amount of life experience going into them) MFA program that plugged them into solid jobs coming out of school. What I'm saying here is that they spent a lot of time not just working, but building their personal networks AND making work that was a consistent level of quality. The internet can be good for some things, but excluding web design and things that are centered around the information economy, the bulk of creatives I know spent a lot of time out there in the real world grinding to get business. And it never, ever ends. Even people I know who are successful go through dry periods where their poo poo just isn't selling, they just make more money when it does sell. That is the nature of the business. The point here is, before you start bitching about people selling lovely art take a bit of time and consider whether or not competing with them is worth your time, and if your work really is good enough to be sold elsewhere. If it is, then you should probably find a way to do that. At some point you will have to get into the real world and interact with people in order to make sales, and your personality and reliability will play a much greater role in how successful you are than the quality of your work, at least in the beginning. It's who you know and who you blow. In any area of business you find that, creative fields are no exception. Show me any famous artist who didn't get a few breaks by meeting the right people and establishing relationships with them. Another thing I will say is that geography plays a huge difference. Some places it is a lot easier to get a start in creative fields if you have the drive to do it - interning at companies, volunteering at museums or other creative organizations, selling your work at mid-range cafe's, etc. If you live in the middle of Omaha you're gonna have a lot worse time than if you live in a metropolitan area with an established art scene. If making a living at this is your goal, you may want to reconsider where you live if those opportunities are not available to you where you are right now.
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Jul 12, 2012 23:34
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RGBRIOT posted:Holy poo poo. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3507409 I wish I could work at McDonalds, I hear they have great benefits.
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Sep 21, 2012 18:43
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Megaspel posted:I'm a bit of a newbie to freelancing. I did a bit in my teen years, even did a National Geographic tv ad once by getting lucky. I would start at no less than $1,000 (US) an hour and negotiate from there. Clearly, you know what you're doing and any client will benefit from your impeccable design skills. Always get a retainer or half payment based on an estimate up front.
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Dec 10, 2014 22:11
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