Taxes...

I got my business license in December. Shortly after I received my business license I got a letter from the tax man stating that I had to pay my taxes for my 4th quarter earnings of 2007 by 1/31/08. Which I did. I must say it was a lot easier than I thought it would be, pretty painless in fact. It only took me 5 minutes to complete my filing. I'm sure the fact that I didn't make any sales in December had something to do with it. I got to file my taxes via the phone. Of course, I waited until the very last day and because of that I couldn't get through to the automated system for several hours. All I would get is a busy signal. Which gave me a pause for a thought "Are there that many businesses in Washington State that didn't make a sell for the 4th quarter of their business?" I'm hoping they are business such as mine - small start up businesses who aren't depending upon the income from their business to be their sole source of support. That would be too scary to contemplate.

By the way, January started as my year ended - no sales. I hope this isn't a trend. Let me ask you a few questions: How many of you buy off the internet? If you don't, what would make you buy off the internet? What can I do to make myself stand apart from all those other jewerly artist on the internet? What if I offered a special enticement to the first 10 customers who buy off my web-site - say like "free shipping for life and 10% off each purchase and for every $100 you spend, you get a $10 credit. Would that be enough to turn you into a customer? Let me know what you think of my ideas. Heck, if you have a better idea, why don't you share it with me?

I know that out there, somewhere, is my first customer. I'm hoping that we meet soon.