The document provides an overview of business considerations for creative professionals, including developing a business plan, formalizing as a business entity, financial and tax obligations, legal protections like contracts and releases, strategies for growth like financing and collaborations, and resources for small businesses. It emphasizes the importance of treating creative work as a legitimate business through proper paperwork, accounting, and compliance with regulations. The presentation aims to help creative individuals successfully manage both the artistic and business aspects of their work.

1. Small Business Development
for Creative-Types
Growing your creative business
Presenter:
Miriam Robeson, Attorney
September 5, 2017

2. Making Your Art Work For You
● Business Plans
● Business Formalities
● Business Accounting
● Tax and your business
● Legal considerations
● Small Business Development
● Creative Cooperatives
What We Will Discuss...

3. Why Be a Business?
● It will help you make money
● It will help you focus
● It will help you comply with legal and tax regulations
● It will give you more credibility
● It will show you weaknesses in your business
Five Reasons to “Step Up” the
Business Side of Your Art

4. When Should You ‘Become’ a Business?
●Desire and Determination
◦ You enjoy your art and can spend all day (every day)
developing products and skills
◦ You are willing to treat your art activities “like a business.”
●Dollars and Sense (Cents)
◦ You can create enough art (and sell at a price) to support
yourself (and family)
◦ You can sell your art for more than it costs (time and supplies
– including a fair value for your time)
●Art Takes Over
◦ You spend all your time in search of “more-- better--bigger”
ways to create and display your art
◦ You find public venues for your art (display and sell)
When Can You Quit Your “Day Job?”

5. Getting Started
● Trial Run, Ease In, or Dive In?
● 50% of Small Biz fail in the first 5
years.
● Are you ready to be both Art and
Business?
Start-up Basics
Top 10 Start-up Steps
Top 7 Reasons Why Poor Businesses Fail

6. BUSINESS PLANS
Fail to plan = Plan to fail

7. Business Plan
◦ The important elements of
◦ your business plan
⚫Vision Statement (Who You Are)
⚫The Players (Customers)
⚫Business Concept (What’s the Point?)
⚫Finances and feasibility (What does it cost to get where I
want to go?)
⚫Success Matrix (How will you know when you have arrived?)
What is it, and why do I need one?
Why should Artists have a business plan?

8. Business Plan
● You need a Business Plan if...
◦ You are running a business (not a hobby)
◦ You are applying for a loan (lenders require it)
◦ You are looking for investors (investors want it)
◦ You are working with partners (so everyone
knows the plan)
◦ If you run into trouble (legal, financial, etc.)
Why do I need one?
Top 10 Business Plan Tips

9. BUSINESS FORMALITIES
Government Compliance

10. Business Formalities
● Protect yourself and your business
◦ Business Entity (Corp, LLC, formal partnership)
◦ Tax ID number (NOT your SS#!!)
◦ State and Federal paperwork
⚫Existence, taxes, creative protection
◦ Business Relationships Paperwork
⚫Contracts for lease of space, use of equipment, display
of art (gallery space), sub- contracted work
Paperwork = Credibility

11. Business Formalities
● Sole Proprietor – Easiest entity - least protection
● Corporation – Formal entity - greatest protection
● Limited Liability Company (LLC) - greatest
flexibility
● Consult a professional!
What Kind of Business Are You?

12. SMALL BUSINESS
ACCOUNTING,
TAXES, AND THE LAW
Money • Money • Money

13. Small Business Finances
●Keep business income and expenses
separate from personal
◦ Separate checking, credit card account
◦ Separate vendor / customer accounts
●Keep stuff!
◦ Receipts, invoices, contracts (scanner is OK)
●Computer Bookkeeping program
◦ Mint - Quicken – Quickbooks – Excel Spreadsheet
◦ Enter ALL income and expenses
Tracking the $$

14. Small Business and Taxes
●Type of business formality determines
tax return
● Things you can deduct
◦ Supplies (creative and administrative)
◦ Insurance (business and health)
● Things you can’t deduct
◦ Personal / Living expenses
● Watch Hobby Loss Rules!
◦ More than three years of loss - the IRS calls you a “hobby,” and
you cannot deduct expenses!
Protecting your business

15. Small Business Taxes
● Sales Tax Paid to the State– what is it,
when do you collect?
◦ 7% - more than 30 days - “in the business of”
● Sales Tax You Pay for Purchases –
what’s exempt? – “Direct production of”
● Employment Tax – when do you have
“employees”?
● Income Tax – Estimated Payments
required
◦ 110% of current income tax obligation
◦ 100% of previous year’s tax obligation
Taxes You Pay - Taxes You Collect

16. Small Business Taxes
● Home Office/Studio – dedicated space
● Utilities (heat, light, phone) – pro-rata share
● Insurance – business insurance, pro-rata
share of casualty insurance on home
● Automobile – travel to/from events, exhibits
◦ 2017 IRS Mileage Rate = 53.5¢ per mile *or* actual
expenses
◦ Meals and Entertainment – 50% rule for meals
- actual costs for lodging, travel
● Art Supplies and Equipment
◦ “Consumables” = immediately deductible
◦ Equipment with useful life = depreciate
● What Do You Want to Deduct?
Deductions, Deductions, We Love Deductions!

17. Small Business Tax Traps
●State Tax Traps
◦ Failing to file sales tax returns
◦ Failing to file employment tax returns
◦ Failing to file Secretary of State
documents
●What to do if you have trouble
◦ Memory Devices
◦ Hire a professional
The IRS is watching you...
Remember:
Keep records!
Top 10 Audit Triggers

18. Small Business LAW
● Personal Risks
◦ Personal assets at risk from business
practices
⚫Financial Issues
⚫Liability Issues
● Business Risks
◦ What is your business worth?
◦ Protect your business reputation
● Work Product – See Intellectual Property
Legal Risks

19. When You Don’t Own What you
Create: Work For Hire
● “Work For Hire” is owned by the hiring
agent under three conditions:
◦ (1) Meet “Commissioned Works” definition in
the law:
⚫Contribution to a larger work, such as a magazine
⚫A part of a motion picture or audiovisual work
⚫A compilation of existing works
⚫Instructional texts or graphic works
⚫A translation of an existing work
⚫A test
⚫Answers for a test
⚫Supplementary works, such as a graph for a book
⚫An atlas
Sample Work for Hire Agreement

20. ● Work For Hire belongs entirely to hiring
agent IF:
◦ (2) If the creator is an employee and the work
was created on company time or with company
resources;
◦ (3) If the creator specifically relinquishes all rights
prior to commencement of work.
Sample License Agreement
When You Don’t Own What you
Create: Work For Hire (con’t)

21. Contracts: Protecting Your Work
●Contracts = Professional = Credibility =
Protection of the relationship
●Contracts set expectations
◦ What – When - Where – How Much
◦ Rights – Responsibilities
◦ Timeline for payment and performance
◦ Ownership of work product
● Contracts help manage conflict
● Always have a contract
● Always start with YOUR contract

22. Releases – Use of private likeness
● Types of Releases
◦ Model Release
◦ Minor Release
◦ Property Release
● When do you need a release?
◦ If the subject is recognizable
◦ If the subject is used for commercial
purposes
Sample Model Release
When you want to use someone else’s image

23. Releases – When Not Needed
● Public Places
◦ Images taken from the street of publically
visible property
◦ Public buildings (visible to the public,
located in public)
● When is a release not needed?
◦ Educational purposes
◦ Editorial illustration
◦ Non-commercial purposes

24. SMALL BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT
Grow Your Business

25. Small Business Development
● Financing growth
● Know why you need $$$
◦ Investors - want to see profit
◦ Patrons - want to see your art
◦ Business (loans) - want $$ + interest
●What is your time worth?
◦ When is it worth hiring it done?
◦ Administrative details
◦ Gal/Guy “Friday”
◦ Share administration with a partner
◦ (artist or business)
Planning to Grow Your Small Business

26. Small Business Practices
● 8 things you must do when selling a piece
of art
● 10 Principles of Success for Artists
● Top 10 Tips to Grow Your Art Business

27. CREATIVE
COLLABORATIONS
Collaborations for
Success

28. Creative Cooperatives
● Sharing a business - increase profitability
◦ Like Kind of Art
◦ Compatible Kind of Art
◦ Diverse Kind of Art
◦ Mixing Art and “Other”
● Investment Limits – when is enough too
much?
Art Teams that Succeed

29. Creative Cooperatives
● Tips For Partners
◦ Discuss expectations - then write them down
◦ Written agreement for sharing costs and income
⚫Sharing store space, studio space, equipment
⚫Sharing costs and sharing time
⚫What happens if it doesn’t work out?
◦ Feeling of Fairness - MOST Important!
◦ Must be willing to spend time on the relationship
◦ Not for friends or the faint of heart!
Art Teams that Succeed

30. Employees
● Employees increase business complications
◦ Employment taxes and rules
⚫Full time and part time
⚫Over time and benefits
◦ Training Employees to read your mind
● Can you succeed without help?
◦ Employees allow you to be in two places at once
◦ Employees can be hired for business
management
◦ What is the “marginal benefit” of an employee?
Do I Need Employees? What Do I do with Them?

31. Employee or Independent
Contractor?
●Tax issues for you
●IF YOU are an independent contractor
◦You have to pay your own taxes
◦You are hired for your expertise and
product, not to put in time
●IF you HIRE an independent contractor
◦Make sure you report on IRS 1099
◦Make sure they aren’t “really” an
employee

32. How to Succeed at (Art) Business
● Make a Plan - stick with the plan
● Formalize Your Business - act like a business, not a
hobby
● Keep up with the paperwork
● Keep up with taxes (and keep receipts!)
● Watch and protect your rights
● Watch copyright issues
● Enter partnerships with eyes wide open
● Don’t forget to MAKE ART!
Plan, Work, Time, and Art

33. Resources for Small Business
● US Small Business Administration
◦ www.sba.gov
● Indiana Small Business Development Corporation
● Isbdc.org
● Google is our Friend
Finding Help for what you need

34. Thank you for your attention!
Questions? Answers?
You can find this presentation
At blog.lawlatte.com
“Law Basics for Artists”
You can find Miriam at:
MiriamRobeson@lawlatte.com