Are you a painter, graphic artist, video or film professional? Or perhaps you’re a talented sculptor or a writer. Maybe you are a photographer looking to profit from your artistic talents and at the same time satisfy your creative spirit. Well let me tell you about a friend of mine who made the decision to move his small video production company from a combination, office/studio he rented in local downtown office building to his home.
My friend is a very talented, skilled video director and producer. He is also a very accomplished, award winning still photographer. He primarily makes his living producing, directing and shooting television commercial spots. He had maintained his studio in an old, turn of the century office building since 1987 until one day my friend was hit with a huge rent increase by his very unsympathetic landlord. Faced with eviction, he decided to make a drastic move. He decided to move his studio to his home located outside the city in the country. In his case, he was able to obtain a bank loan and built a studio next to his house. He stored a lot of his video equipment that couldn’t fit inside his newly built video studio inside his garage and also inside his work truck.
Having a three bedroom home and being single gave him the option of turning one of the unused bedrooms into a home office where he could accomplish all necessary office work and also giving him a place to meet with potential clients. All video editing and studio work were done in his on site video studio. He later was also able to contract to teach certain aspects of video production through sponsorship with various video equipment companies. He has taught video production throughout the United States and also is in big demand in a few foreign countries as well.
Although he makes use of an accounting firm to handle his business accounting needs, he also makes use of Quicken to maintain his businesses record and bookkeeping needs. Because he uses one of his bedrooms as his office and used the entire studio he built on his property, he is able to obtain various tax deductions for both areas. He is also able to deduct expenses for maintenance and upkeep of his equipment truck, business travel expense and other tax deductions.
He has also ventured into giving video production classes at his home studio for extra profit making. Because his business is set up as a private corporation, his corporate structure also permits him other deductions afforded by being registered as a corporation.
Of course not all of us are able to walk into a bank and pull down a sizable bank loan in order to build a studio or professional artist work place on our property. But my friend’s case does point out, that for creative types, utilizing your artistic skills and talent to start a business can work well by starting and running that business in your home or residence.
The one important thing that any creative person should keep in mind is that if you desire to profit from your creative works and wish to work from your home, always remember-whether you like it or not, you have to be a business person. You cannot even begin to think that you can just get by on your talent alone and the business end will somehow take care of itself. As far as the running the day to day business requirements of a home business, there’s no difference between you the artist and Joe The Plumber running a home plumbing business. You both have to follow the same rules of running an at home business.
If you as an artist, adhere to the strict business rules and develop practical business skills, your artistic business venture could become a life long career.
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