Definetly, it will be a definite side thing. Just for some extra cash and to have fun with the hobby.
Online business
- Thread starter fish042099
- Start date
1. Don't have any ATM.
2. Currently apisto's, angels, bnp, shrimp, guppys, swordtails. Also want to work on, geos, oscars, stingrays, pbass (currently have grow outs), gbr/ebgr (need to figure out how to feed fry), Cory's, and more shrimp. But I have to start small and or somewhere and grow.
3. System for sellable fish is 8x 10g overflow system, going out about 2 weeks with fish. Ex 4 tanks for this weeks fish and 4 tanks for next weeks fish. Also have my apistos in 6x 10 gal for breeding and then 3x 40Bs for grow outs. THE WHOLE THING IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS! Don't need 10 ppl telling me what they think I'm doing wrong as it is constantly changing week to week and month to month lol. Every tank just has a sponge filter and a heater. Working on 20s for angels. Guppies and swords are going outside in tubs/koi ponds in a few weeks. Shrimp are in 15g tanks. Bnp are in 30s.
4. Kinda just came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to find any bank to give me a loan to start a towing & recovery business, so sunk everything I had into the fish instead. My GF is my driving force, I didn't want to spend any money on it because we have our wedding coming up in 6 months and still a bunch of stuff that needs to be paid for to actually have one and no family members have the money to help out/pay for it, but she said do it. Failure at this point is not an option. I'm a shoot first ask later type of guy... Jumped head first into it, only thing I could really do is make a educated calculation and then roll the dice. I could have spent 3-6 months talking about it or 1 week to actually do it. I have a lot of people standing behind me, which helps a tremendous amount. Easier to get stuff done when you have 3 people telling you it will work out, rather then people telling you it's stupid or your not going to make anything from it. Also, this is just my train of thought, start with the best stuff. Yeah almost every pet shop sells A. cacatuoides or aggasizzi, but most of them come from other counties, and the quality isn't the highest. If I can spend 6 months on a strain of cacatuoides just for my own pleasure and make it the best to my ability, I think someone would rather buy those high quality fish instead of the mass produced fish.
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Also know rules before selling fish across lower 48 states. I would only breed fish where I know I can sell without feds showing up and fine you more money than you can make in a year.
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Might repeat a few points, so bear with me:
1) Local jurisdictions issue business licenses. Normally, you don't need one to do a random garage sale, to sell the 4 extra puppies your dog produces, or to sell the 5 scarves you knitted last winter. But once you are trying to regularly and routinely make money outside of a normal job by making something or offering service for something (employee, contractor excluded), you normally need a business license. Each area will define it so there is no precise way to tell you.
2) Once you have a business license, you may also need a state tax ID and a federal tax ID. The state department of commerce can tell you what the requirements are. You might need a federal one if you are selling outside of the state due to interstate trade.
3) You don't want to make sales and not report them as income since that's tax fraud. As long as it's really a hobby (and not considered a for-profit activity or your primary source of income), they try to ignore it and let you report it directly on your 1040. But once it's obviously a business, there are new issues. Depending on how you handle your activities (hobby, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation) you may have to file taxes in a specific way. SEE http://www.irs.gov/uac/Business-or-Hobby?-Answer-Has-Implications-for-Deductions
4) Most of this information can be gotten free by calling the IRS, or getting pamphlets or instructions from the IRS, commerce departments of the state, etc. Whether you need a lawyer or tax accountant is up to you.
5) You want to keep very detailed records. Generally, business income can be offset by business expenses. Fish sales can be offset by fish food costs, the electricity to heat the tanks can be deducted, the cost to advertise (have a website), to have a business card, etc. Even a portion of the house can be offset. Bad records means the taxable income might not get much offset and you might owe taxes when you shouldn't. Good records might let you offset a lot and only pay a small amount of tax. In any case, start reading up on that so you aren't caught in a jam later.
1) Local jurisdictions issue business licenses. Normally, you don't need one to do a random garage sale, to sell the 4 extra puppies your dog produces, or to sell the 5 scarves you knitted last winter. But once you are trying to regularly and routinely make money outside of a normal job by making something or offering service for something (employee, contractor excluded), you normally need a business license. Each area will define it so there is no precise way to tell you.
2) Once you have a business license, you may also need a state tax ID and a federal tax ID. The state department of commerce can tell you what the requirements are. You might need a federal one if you are selling outside of the state due to interstate trade.
3) You don't want to make sales and not report them as income since that's tax fraud. As long as it's really a hobby (and not considered a for-profit activity or your primary source of income), they try to ignore it and let you report it directly on your 1040. But once it's obviously a business, there are new issues. Depending on how you handle your activities (hobby, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation) you may have to file taxes in a specific way. SEE http://www.irs.gov/uac/Business-or-Hobby?-Answer-Has-Implications-for-Deductions
4) Most of this information can be gotten free by calling the IRS, or getting pamphlets or instructions from the IRS, commerce departments of the state, etc. Whether you need a lawyer or tax accountant is up to you.
5) You want to keep very detailed records. Generally, business income can be offset by business expenses. Fish sales can be offset by fish food costs, the electricity to heat the tanks can be deducted, the cost to advertise (have a website), to have a business card, etc. Even a portion of the house can be offset. Bad records means the taxable income might not get much offset and you might owe taxes when you shouldn't. Good records might let you offset a lot and only pay a small amount of tax. In any case, start reading up on that so you aren't caught in a jam later.
Bump lets keep the thread going! Still up for suggestions and pics/info about other peoples setups!
