This week we had a good meeting with our accountant to discuss hiring an employee and other things we want to do this year for our business. We cannot stress enough how helpful it is to have a knowledgeable person in business on our side. Since we’ve formed a relationship with his small accounting firm, he meets us for free and makes sure we’re doing things correctly when it comes to paperwork and taxes. It’s one small business helping another small business.
We took the big step towards hiring our first W-2 employee. The girl whose been taking photos/listing has become so valuable to us that we want to make her feel like she has some stability in our job. We worked with her since November and know that her help makes us money and our life easier.
- The IRS has a good summary of how to determine if your help can be paid as a 1099 contractor or W-2 employee.
- The Small Business Administration has a good workflow of how to hire your first employee.
- We’re using the online service, Square, to help manage her hours/pay + file the right paperwork each month with the State/Feds. There are a lot of online services that do payroll which is a huge benefit. It’s all done online. Our accountant says he could do it for us, but just laughed when he found out that Square does it for only $30 a month.
- We decided to pay her $12/hr. It’ll be about $13/hr after paying employment taxes. She was psyched when we offered her this pay because it’s a good rate in our area. We promised 15 flexible hours each week which is perfect for her since she’s still in college. We could certainly offer her much less, but it’s a good business move for us. We want her to come motivated and to stick around as long as she enjoys the work. We need her more than she needs us!
- Here’s a good link to how the US is built on small businesses. Interestingly most small businesses are sole proprietorships. You don’t have to make it complicated to open up shop.
Overall it’s a fairly simple process. Just took us time to learn and ask questions.
We had a good week on eBay. Hope these sales continue till the summer.
Here is a link to Ryanne’s Screenshots of the eBay Returns Program Beta.
We slashed our prices on Amazon to get rid of our inventory. Turns out if you sell stuff for super cheap, people will buy it! Unless we find a special kind of inventory for FBA, our Amazon experiment is over. Fun while it lasted.
Good conversations on the forum this week. Here’s a good thread debating what to do when another seller copies your listing on eBay.
And lastly, say congratulations to Nandry, the Teen Thrifter. She’s getting married to her high school sweet heart. You can listen to the interview we did with her here. She’s so smart and hard working that we know she has a bright future.
Join the conversation in the forum>>
Our Store Week January 8-14, 2017
Store #1
Total Items in Store: 5280
Items Sold: 60
Cost of Items Sold: $120
Total Sales: $1,985.50
Highest Price Sold: $200 (two vintage wool rugs)
Average Price Sold: $33.09
Returns: 4
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $20
Number of items listed this week: 180
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Bonanza/Trugether:
Sold 0 items for $0
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Store #2
Total Items in Store: 970
Items Sold: 7
Cost of Items Sold: $13
Total Sales: $290.97
Highest Price Sold: $125 (Set of framed prints)
Average Price Sold: $41.56
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 0
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Home › Forums › Scavenger Life Episode 293: How To Hire Your First Employee