S - Study, Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center, Square

Study - Artists should continually strive to advance their skills. They might not do it by taking a traditional class, but they can watch tutorials online, read instructional books and even participate in the Etsy labs to learn new techniques. Art business people should also study up on business strategies. Business has to be as important as art in order to make a full-time living with art sales.

Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center - The small business and self-employed tax center is a page of the IRS website that helps small business owners find all of the necessary tax forms and documents. Artists can register their business and apply for an EIN (Employer Identification Number) that allows them to hire help. Artists can also find important forms for filing their yearly income tax.

Artists who plan on pursuing a full-time art career need to register with both state and federal government agencies to be able to collect sales tax and file income taxes. Many art shows do not allow artists to participate unless they have the required state documents to collect the sales tax. It's also just important to be professional to prevent any future problems with audits.

The small business and self-employed tax center is a wonderful resource for anyone seeking small business tax information at the Federal level. Each state also has sites for small businesses though, and don't neglect viewing that information to be prepared as you start your business.

Square - Square is a service that will process your credit cards through your smart phone. Sign up at http://www.squareup.com/ and they will send you a free card reader. Use the reader with the Square app on your smart phone to process credit cards at shows. You will only need to pay a small credit card processing fee for each transaction, which is much better than paying a monthly fee AND a processing fee, like most credit card processing companies.

U - Understand Your Target Market

Understand Your Market - Every small business person has to understand his or her target market. They must know who they are marketing to and what that group of people values.

An artist who sells high-cost sterling silver and gold jewelry probably won't be selling to teenagers, whereas a funky artist who creates plastic jewelry out of shrinky dinks might. Artists need to continually think about who their work is intended for. This doesn't mean that they have to change their work to fit a different market, but instead find the market that is perfect for their work.

Artists can look for certain variables in the market to determine their target market. These variables include age, gender, financial affluence, geographic location, and even whether or not the target market are parents. Each artist or crafts person will have different criteria for assessing their target market, but they should continually be thinking about who could best use their products. For instance, a crafter making baby blankets probably wouldn't want to participate in an art show on a college campus. Even though there may be parents there, the concentration of parents would be less than if that crafter was at a street festival for families.

By understanding the target market and choosing to participate in events that appeal to that market, an artist can maximize his or her earning potential. Artists can also spare themselves the time, money and effort of participating in an event that doesn't adequately showcase their work for the right market.

Though no event is ever totally targeted to only one market, artists can use some smart business sense to pick events that will get them the most contact with their target market. In this way, artists can be even more successful and build a strong customer base.

X - eXtra Order Sheets

eXtra Order Sheets - When participating in art shows, instances can occur when someone likes an item, but wants it in a different size, color or format. In this case, artists should have order forms handy so that they can immediately take an order for an alternate product.

By having order forms handy, artists can receive on-the-spot payment and increase sales. It is important to provide the customer with a time frame in which they should expect to receive the order. It is also important to make sure the customer has adequate contact information in case any problems arise. Simple order sheets can be printed up at home and filled out by hand at an event or art show.

Order forms should include the following information:

• Customer's shipping address and contact information
• Item order
• Dimensions of item
• Materials used to make item
• Colors of item
• Size of item
• Price of item
• Item shipping date (The latest date on which the item will be shipped)