So there I was, all excited about my new artistic venture, happily making jewelry, painting scarves, and designing my own fabrics for some future projects, when my creative train was suddenly derailed by cold, hard bureaucratic reality...aka the Taxman!
Etsy has some great tutorials to help new Etsians (love that term...sounds a little Star Trek!) get started so I felt pretty certain that I was on the right track, and for the most part, I was. This past Wednesday, I went to the credit union to open my business accounts. Simple, right? No, not so fast, my little pretty!
I had my federal EIN in hand (Employer Identification Number- necessary even if I have no plans to employ anyone but myself) , but was totally in the dark about the need to register my business name with the Ohio Secretary of State office before I could qualify for any business banking services. So back home I went, to log on to the proper website, download the proper forms, write my check for $50, and send it off to John Husted's office.
Now, I am in creative limbo, waiting to learn if my business name has already been taken by someone else first! According to the website, I should be go to go, but in these days of electronic communication, who knows?
Thanks to the advice of that very knowledgeable gentleman at the credit union, I am now signed up to take a Business Start-up workshop through the Ohio Small Business Development Center!
