Starting a Sole Proprietorship For My Crafts

A few months back a friend of mine asked if I could be a vendor for a fairly large event.  Heroicon  is a table top and board gaming convention being held in Decatur, IL.  The proceeds go to a local charity called Games For Troops.  Please follow the link if you're interested in learning more in either of these things.  The Games for Troops charity is really awesome.  They buy and mail off board games to troops who are away from home, it helps to give them something to do in their off time that doesn't include watched the sides of their tents move in the wind.

Back to the beginning.  I decided to take him up on the offer and have since been making a lot of things for this event.  Albeit, I could be making more, I don't want to burn myself out, so I'm pacing myself.

I recently looked into the legalities of being a small business.  Without getting into too much legalese or boring you to death, I decided on being a Sole Proprietor.  I wanted to be an LLC, but in Illinois that cost is about $500.  And since I'm doing more of a hobby-type thing versus establishing a regular source of income, I have decided that I don't want to waste my money on that.  I can't be guaranteed that I will even make enough money to cover the cost of becoming a company through the LLC.

After I decided that, I needed(and still need) to do a few things.  One thing is: deciding on if and how I might take Credit Cards.  I may be alone, but I very rarely carry cash on me.  I am so used to the conveniences of my debit and credit cards that I take for granted not everyone can take those.  Which is why I looked into a system that could help me.  You may have seen them, they're called The Square, or Square Register.  I started looking into this and after reading the extensive terms of use I signed up.  Near the end of my sign up, it then offered to mail me a square, even though I haven't purchased anything.  So, when this arrives, I will let you know how well this system works!  The interface is pretty handy and it will keep track of all purchases and history, so that will be a lot of help.

The next thing I will need to do is create a business plan and an operating agreement.  The first outlines what I plan to do and how I will attempt to sell or make money, the second defines how I will run my business as a whole.  I may not NEED to do these things.  But I feel that it will help me to organize myself.

I have looked into it and if I want to run my Sole Proprietorship by my name I don't need to do anything.  However, I have a name for my "Company" and I have to go to the County Clerk's office and fill out some paperwork then pay the $11 fee.  THEN I will have to pay to have the announcement published in one of the local newspapers for three days a week for three weeks(another $16). So that's pretty easy.

As for my recent Crafting situation I have completed yet another afghan throw and I learned to knit and have made two scarves.  Currently working on some fingerless mitts for a few nieces.  I need to figure out what team colors my nephews like so that I can make them all something as well, they're big sports fans.  Pictures for finished projects coming soon.