Bob wrote: "I just wanted to say how much I've been enjoying reading the posts from = Tanya about her portrait ventures, and the various responses from other = members. This is in part because I'm starting off my own portrait = business here in Oregon, though not with quite as much verve (I don't = have either the stomach or time right now to book 20+ sittings in = advance.) Hope you'll keep us all posted on your progress." Hi Bob, and thanks for posting this. I was just about to post an "update" when I read your message, so here goes... Firstly, somebody mentioned that I should be considering income tax. For those who don't know, in Australia we have what is called the "tax free threshold" which means that you can earn $6500 per year before you have to pay any tax. This "venture" with the day care centres/eistedford/bookings in my home town, will see me with earnings of about $9,000 by the late May/early June. Of this, after expenses, I will find myself with about $3500-$4000. Now, as this is going to be "a business" per say, and as you have all seen my "shopping list", you will realise that I will effectively be making "zilch" from all of this as every cent is going straight back into equipment "for the business". Total amount of tax to be paid....ZERO. Of course, if things continue this way, that will change as I won't be continually spending that much on equipment/expenses (especially once I have my printer/scanner, my profit margin will increase as I will have less lab costs, and I will be buying my film in bulk soon too, so that is another cost to be reduced). So, before you all go worrying that I'll be dragged off to the slammer by some big mean tax man, I assure you that I know my way around these things. I used to model and then had my own agency, so I am no stranger to being self-employed. Ok, so today I took another three bookings, bringing my total up to 14. This is only from the one centre though. It won't be until this coming Monday that we kick things off with the second day care centre. So, what this means is that, booking wise, I have almost reach the quota that I set myself for this particular centre, with the second lot starting to come in (hopefully) next week. At this stage, I am not even beginning to think about the Eistedford or the bookings my Mum keeps making for me down there (even though I asked her to stop, all of these people who knew me "way back when" keep saying, "Wow, Tanya's coming home? What she's doing photography? Really, she's that good? (this is my Mum we're talking about here, she's probably making them think that I've won a Pullitzer Prize or something!) Well, make sure you keep an appointment spare for me. etc, etc." So you guys thought that my town was small with a population of 24,000? Well, guess how many are in my Mum's town (called Clermont, FYI)? All of 1500!!!! And guess what else? My Mum is a nurse, so she can (and has) told me just who is pregnant in town and who is due before I get down there, "just to make sure I don't miss anyone". The only thing that seems to be forgetting is that I am only there for like 8 days, and it WAS supposed to be a holiday. Looks like she's gonna have her hands full looking after my boys for that entire 8 days - well, at least she will if she doesn't stop bragging about me and start keeping her "motherly pride" to herself. Ok, so here's the thing, my first bookings are next weekend, while my hubby is home for his 4 days off. I have booked myself out completely for each and everyone of those 4 days, beginning at 8 in the morning through to 7 in the evening (ie. 4 x 2 hour sessions per day, allowing an hour in between for delays, eating etc). What this means is that I have 6 days to get organised and to sew my little butt off cause I have got costume ideas bursting out everywhere and I really need to get them to fruition before I lose my motivation (I get into these "modes" about 2 or 3 times a year where my mind just goes into overdrive and ideas just pop out everywhere, luckily this time I have a practical and hopefully, profitable outlet for these ideas). I have been making grass skirts, togas, ponchos, fairy wings, even Adam and Eve costumes! So, I guess what I am saying is this; I will be taking a little hiatus from PDML for a bit so that I can focus on making this thing work. I really need to put all of my energies into it (rather than sitting in front of a pc all day) to ensure that I am a) organised b) prepared and c) organised...oh, and did I mention organised? I will still be lurking, and will of course drop an occasional line to say hi and to let you all know that I'm still around, how things are going with it all, and of course, you all will be my lifeline when anything goes wrong with my gear! But until this first lot of bookings is over (about a fortnight away from now), I'm going to be pretty flat out. I am aiming for 50 bookings to be booked, paid for and shot by mid June, and I am about a third of the way there. Talk about a steep learning curve! I think that mine is almost vertical right now! I'll keep you all posted on my progress. 8-) fairy.x. - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
