The costs of running a business...

[Checkers]

Wow, thanks for the entertainment guys and gals. But, the direction this thread took is exactly why I do not participate much any more or contribute financially to this site.

I just want to add a few more comments to this before I let it go.

This is our business and how we run it is up to my wife and me. We built the business from scratch, using my experience and the advice provided to us by the team we built to support the business - our CPA, Banker, Attorney, Insurance Agent and a few others.

We took the advice of our attorney and made sure the business was totally compliant with local, state and federal laws. And yes, we did have to apply for a variance to the local zoning code to run the business from home and there were a few stipulations we had to meet.

We also took (and still take) the advice of our CPA to make sure that the business and us only pay our fair share of taxes - nothing more, but nothing less either.

And yes, this was meant to be a thread about insuring your business is run in a profitable manner because, if you're not making money in this business, you should be doing something else.

Checkers

 

[binki]

... using my experience and the advice provided to us by the team we built to support the business - our CPA, Banker, Attorney, Insurance Agent and a few others...

...We took the advice of our attorney and made sure the business was totally compliant with local, state and federal laws...

...We also took (and still take) the advice of our CPA to make sure that the business and us only pay our fair share of taxes - nothing more, but nothing less either...

Which is all you can do. Good going. 50% of the house, huh? wow, that is a lot but I guess it depends on the size of the operation and the house.

 

[Techman]

The few minor points questioned are such trivial points. It's easy to pick and choose what we want to see and comment upon. The whole point of this thread was to give a model as to why a home based bizz should charge the correct amount. It is a treatise on why a home based business does not have a lower overhead verses a business location.

Instead of saying "thank you",, then going on to make a writing of our own some will point out some very minor detail and try to use it as a way to make themselves all knowing and omnipotent. It does nothing but divert the attention away from some otherwise really good information.

So what if some insurance company doesn't like it.
So what if some government agency doesn't like it.
So what if some tax agent wants to meet his quota.

In fact who cares about 50% of his house. It's all in how he articulates his expenses to the tax man that really matters.

None of those points mean anything to the macro economics of charging the right amounts while running a home business. In fact all those other points are completely off topic.


Good post checkers. Its spot on.

 

[UFB Fabrication]

If bobs big sign co. down the street sells stuff lets say 500 bucks as well asthe other shops down the street what rate will you sell for. I am asking this because many a shop will leave a large percentage of money on the table and at the same time bring the cost of the industry standard down. I am certainly not saying this about the OP but many times this is the case. I also see a bigger turnover in the yellow pages from the small and 1 man shops than the larger ones. I am thinking that selling that sign for 400 dollars has the apperance of making money in the long haul it should have been 475.
I have thought for years as the costs go up and yet the price of a 1/2'' 4x8 that has 3 colors of copy is the same price as it was in 1980.

 

[OneUpTenn]

My shop is 100' from my house. I store absolutely no personal items here that do not relate to my business. I have a small parking area and 2 seperate entrances to my shop for customers. I have my own restroom out here and its own septic tank (which could get me in trouble should the perk people ever come out).

Attached to my shop is a small overhang where we store the tractor (we live on 12 acres). Does this mean I cant store my tractor there?