Lately I have been thinking a lot about the structure of my
business. It has been growing slowly as
I venture out to more places. Keeping
up with it and my liabilities have me worried.
Besides my on-line presence I have some of my items on
consignment at two different galleries.
One of the Galleries is doing very well.
It is located in a vacation area.
Skiing in winter and camping in summer.
The Gallery owner contacted me recently with a client of hers that
needed a basket wrap done for an enhydro
crystal that contains prehistoric droplets of water and wanted to know
if I could do it. Of course I said
yes. So we made arrangements to
meet. When we met she had several
different projects she wanted me to do.
Repair bails, restring beads and the basket for the crystal. When seeing the crystal I knew it was going
to be a big challenge because the crystal had fractures, and she had taken it
to a Jeweler and he broke part of it and refused to finish. He had told her he doesn’t normally do wire
wrapping and she would need someone that did.
Because of my relationship with the Gallery owner I took it on, and we
made arrangement to meet again 3 weeks later with the work completed.
I did complete
the job but was very worried the whole time about breaking it. It turned out pretty good and she was
totally happy with the wrap. But the
liability I undertook was tremendous.
The enhydro crystals are a bit pricey but this one meant a lot to her
and I don’t want to think about what would of happened if I had cracked it
more. I have been looking into LLC’s
etc., and I have come across this web site
http://www.hellocraft.com/2011/01/ask-a-lawyer-legal-structures-for-craft-businesses/
it gives tons of information for crafters and small business owners. It is not meant to be legal advice but
information for you. You can also go to
http://www.sba.gov/ for more
information.
Even if you don’t take big risks I would recommend
learning more about your liabilities. Even the simplest transaction can go bad.
