Am I a hobby or business? Current state versus future state? Coming up with a name for my crafts was apparently the easy part and that took months.  For me right now, the goal of odds & hens is to keep my crafting fun, share it with people who appreciate it and to begin to challenge and grow my skills in a new area (or two).

Guiding principles * be open to inspiration in the world .. * .. but true to my roots * and fail forward.

With that, what is the first step to taking your crafts to the next level?

1) Google for days on end…. 2) Realize Googling, while delivers tons of info, is probably just creating more confusion and then 3) starting over again, a little bit more systematically, and focusing on city, state and fed resources.

1. Business vs. Hobby
   1. Today Still keeping my day job, so time on craft < job [=hobby] but time thinking about crafts…..
   2. P & L: a million dollars (use dr. evil voice) or shooting for not being upside down and making some money. Low upfront overhead.
      1. Biggest challenge – charging a fair price
   3. Main intent (see goals above) is not to quit my day job at this time (I like my day job) but also to be open to the world and opps around me.
   4. Skillz: I have never run a business but my husband has, I work for one, tooks some classes, looked it up on wikipedia and am a consumer of the goods I sell (takes one to know one); so yeah, I think I got.

   So where does that put me on the scale closer to business but still a tad hobbyish, about about microbusiness with big plans. Kinda of a scary transition.

2. Too legit
   1. Write up an actual, formal business plan (short and long-term, renew)
      1. Describe the scope of my craft portfolio, tangible and services (teaching)
      2. Include charitable giving component (note to self)
      3. Revenue sources: goods sold, consulting/custom, advertising, blogging
   2. Formulate my book keeping strategy.  (Prelim – use Outright, pretty monthly expanding file folder and spreadsheet to set up my GL and expense sheets)
   3. Establish my ING account and Capital Once card for all things biz, eventually open new accounts
   4. Get permits, licenses
   5. Throw a mileage notebook in the glove box for starting, ending mileage and memo
   6. Marketing strategy (social media, print, WOM, business cards, logo)

   Off to do some work! I will continue to share my learnings and experiences.