Back from Denver and things have slowed down a little, but only a little.
On my plate now: (some of which I will certainly get done before KB arrives [KB is our baby's initials] and some of which I almost certainly will not)
•Finish the baby room..... I have gotten a lot done on it in the last two days and it's looking great, but there is still plenty to do. I will post a picture tomorrow, or sometime soon. (I'm insomniac blogging now so I can't snap a pic!)
•Make a few repairs to one of the jets and some improvements to a few of the commutators on Christina's Burning Man project. The project leaves for the playa on Tuesday, so this project won't wait. Here is one of the commutators, incomplete: (Gotta have at lease one pic in every post, right?)
•Repair a friends playa bicycle. Also urgent.
•Make about seven stainless steel frames for my friend, the talented artist Robert Drummond. (That is one of my frames holding the glass piece in the picture at that link.) Seven or eight months ago, when my cash flow was even worse than it is now (which is saying something!) Robert advanced me the fee for building these. Now, with KB on the way, I better build them soon, or I never will!
•Get my hot tub running again. Goddamn that fucking hot tub, and goddamn how I miss it! That thing is so high maintenance... I could do a whole blog post on the history of how many different ways it has broken... but I fuckin' love to sit in it! Although it might seem frivolous, it is near the top of my list.
•Make a slew of improvements and repairs to the Hand Of Man before it appears in El Paso in October. A certain percentage of these repairs/improvements are necessary.... we'll see if I do anything more than the bare necessitites.
•Get my ancient CNC milling machine running! HA! It's only taken me seven years to not even get close with this thing.... getting it going before KB arrives should be no problem!! But hey, the damn thing is supposedly a good machine, it has a 22 position tool changer, and I have recently made a connection through an online forum with a guy who has been running this SAME machine for 30 years, and he thinks he can help...
•Re-install the radiator in my semi-truck. I want to do this before winter, at least...
•Re-build the boom extend hydraulic cylinder in Hermans crane... Again! Is there anything more fun than repairing something twice, because you didn't get it right the first time? I don't think so.
•Get my website completely re-done. Yeah, that's gonna happen soon.
•And, start to compile a list of business ideas / income generating ideas. You may notice that none of the aforementioned tasks will actually generate any income. I grew up with money, and so I have no idea how to make it. It's really a skill that I lack. However, I have finally come to the point in my life where I am going to at least TRY to LEARN the skill of THINKING in terms of income. For the most part, right now, I just think in terms of art. But hey, I ain't rich, and I am not being bankrolled by the Medicis, so something has got to give... Maybe a new website, or a list, will help!
At least there's no time to be bored. Being bored is the worst. When you're bored, you're boring.
Accounting is neither intuitive nor obvious!
ReplyDeleteBut it IS the language of money. Do yourself a huge favor and read some Accounting Basics to get a grip on the vocab. Accountants and bookkeepers are two different animals. There are a ton of free tutorials online.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookkeeping
One big thing to know- keeping records for your business is a slightly different paper trail than doing your taxes. Also, personal and business expenses need to be kept in separate trails.
Set up a fool proof system for collecting your data (receipts, statements, notes, reports, etc) and pay a specialist you trust to help you organize it. (the more you know, the easier it'll be to tell if the person you are hiring knows their shit)
You will still need to mastermind the goals, the dreams, the purposes, but they will manage the information, and let you know where you stand for cash flow, and profit/loss. Some of the tax laws will change every year, just to keep it crazy making.
Income follows the same ways of calories- take in more than you spend, and there is a profit. Take in less, and there is a loss. There is a break even point that will yield neither a gain nor a loss.
Bookkeeper has three consecutive doubled letters (subbookkeeper, which has four, seems to have been invented by word nerds)
I started a bookkeeping business for artists about five years ago and learned a lot! I eventually sent all my clients to specialists, and got back to art making- with a new appreciation for how accounting works, and why artists and small businesses have a particularly hard time with it. (Art is difficult to price is one aspect. Record keeping by competent people is an extra expense) A realistic budget will help you figure out how much help you can afford... kind of like housekeeping- you'll need to figure out if you can pay someone to do the routine chores, or do it yourself with seasonal assistance.
You can expense your materials, but generally not your time.
Good luck and holler if you need help!
I've been reading Timothy Ferriss's - "The 4 Hour Work Week". You can download a audio version if that makes taking on another book easier. The author has a great balance between work and quality of life. While this book won't give you any specifics about boosting your income it does give you the tools to help you focus on what you love to do and the quality of life you wish to have.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, guys.
ReplyDeleteI will look into "the 4 hour work week", sounds interesting.
And thanks, Amy, for all the good insight.
Love to all,
C