Originally from Providence, Rhode Island, Shayna Kulik began her career working as a textile designer for Longina Phillips Design Studio in Sydney, Australia.  Relocating to New York in 2003, Kulik joined the design team at ES Originals.  She spent two years with the mass-market shoe manufacturer, conceptualizing a wide range of kicks for corporate accounts such as Target, Rampage, and OshKosh. Kulik went on to Playboy Enterprises where she worked as a product designer developing their accessories and menswear lines as well as managing brand control with the company’s global licensees.

Kulik now brings that unique perspective to clients including Bumble and Bumble, Elizabeth Arden, Marc Ecko, MTV and Panasonic through her design and trend forecasting studio, Pixel Rumor located in New York’s East Village.   Kulik is also founder and editor of Pattern Pulp, a web forum devoted to print and pattern design.

1.  How did you get started doing what you do?

Internships in New York, DC and Sydney laid the foundation for my interest in the commercial art world, and led to my first paying gig as a shoe designer.  Following a few more in-house roles, including a stint as a product designer for Playboy Enterprises, I founded Pixel Rumor.   Most recently I’ve started Pattern Pulp, a weblog that covers design, marketing and creative trends in the print and pattern worlds.

2.  What is your biggest joy and what is your biggest headache?

Biggest Joy:  Trend assignments that incorporate travel

Biggest Headache:  Tax season

 3.  Where do you spend most of your time online (business-wise)?

I hop around a lot, but the frequent reel includes: news sites like New York Times, Wall Street Journal; design and trend sites such as NOTCOT, Cool Hunting, QBN, ffffound; media professional sites like MediaPost and mediabistro; and any random link that gets forwarded to me throughout the day.

 4.  What is the one thing, person, service or resource you can’t do without?

  It’s a three-way tie between my camera, Wacom tablet, and passport

 5.  What do you wish someone had told you the day you started your business?

 Trust your gut with people, projects and goals - it will rarely fail you.

April 15 is less than a month away. Don’t panic! If you are self-employed, have a sole proprietor LLC , then you will be filing a 1040 with Schedule C.  The Schedule C shows the Profit or Loss from Business.  The income is the easy part,  but the tricky part is knowing how to classify expenses.  First look at your Chart of Accounts. The Chart of Accounts is to a business’ financial picture as a table of contents is to a book. Use your Charts of Accounts as a guide and it will prevent errors in recording your income and expenses. I recommend printing a blank copy of a 1040 form with the Schedule C and then printing out a copy of your current Chart of Accounts. Then you can “map” accounts, which means to assign the proper deductible expenses that will properly correspond to your business’ Chart of Accounts.  If you are not using Quickbooks or have no idea what a Chart of Accounts is, then I suggest you sign up for a free Outright account. You can use Outright to figure out your taxable income taking the income and expenses for 2008 that you already have calculated on an Excel spreadsheet.

Outright enlisted the help of two bookkeepers Jeanné Neubelt of BookWorks Total Bookkeeping Services and Cheryl Hinkson of For Your Business Bookkeeping Services to compile a list of nine “hardest to classify” business deductions.

1. Business cards
When you first hang out your shingle, you might head down to the local printer to get some business cards made up.  But what kind of expense is that?

Which do I choose: Supplies, Legal & Professional Services or Advertising?
Recommendation: Advertising

As a self-employed individual, odds are your business cards will be given out to prospective customers in an effort to generate revenue.  For this reason, the most appropriate category would be Advertising.

2. Website Hosting
You pay a monthly hosting fee to firms like Host My Site. Does that go under equipment rental?  Office expense?

Which do I choose: Advertising, Utilities, Equipment Rental or Office expense?
Recommendation: Advertising or Utilities

According to Jeanné, this expense is similar to business cards in that it is likely used to help attract customers and drive revenue.  However, Cheryl sees it a bit differently: “Web Hosting is a service and with a detailed P&L you would list it as Service Provider but on a simple P&L you will list it as a Utility.”

3. Stock photos/icons (and other digital media)
Which do I choose: Cost of Goods Sold, Office Expense, Supplies, Legal & Professional Services?

Recommendation: Cost of Goods Sold, Advertising, or Supplies

In this case, it depends on how the items are used.  As Cheryl explains, “A web designer or graphic company that has signed up for unlimited access to stock photos available online would expense the monthly or quarterly fee to supplies for Cost of Goods Sold.”  However, in the case where the images are being used for your business web site, “you could easily classify the expense as Advertising or Supplies”, says Jeanné.

4.Getting a DBA/Fictitious Name
You’re now in business for yourself, so you get a super cool name to use.  How do you treat the costs of doing that?

Which do I choose: Taxes & Licenses or Legal & Professional Services?
Recommendation: Both, unless you file everything yourself

According to Cheryl: “Formation Fees should be broken into two categories:  The portion of the fee that is paid to the state and the annual renewal fee should be recorded as taxes & licenses and the portion of the fee that is for professional services provided should be classified as legal & professional fees if you contracted a licensed professional to complete your formation documents.”

5. Payments to web designers (and other independent contractors)
How do you treat the graphic designer who created the look and feel for your web site?

Which do I choose: Legal & Professional Services or Contract Labor?
Recommendation: Contract Labor

“Professional services is generally used only for legal, accounting/tax/payroll and business consultancy,” says Jeanné.  Better to use Contract Labor – and “be sure to get a completed W-9 so you can send 1099s where appropriate.”

6. Desktop Software
You fork over the money to purchase the latest version of Adobe’s CS4.

Which do I choose: Supplies?  Office Expense?  Depreciation/Section 179?
Recommendation: Depreciation/Section 179

As Cheryl states, “Software Purchases are a depreciable item unless the program has a useful life of less than one year. In most cases you would not replace your software each year so it should be listed as a depreciable item.”

7.Web-based software subscriptions
Being the fan of web-based software that you are, you have monthly subscriptions to FreshBooks  for your invoicing.  But where do those expenses go?

Which do I choose:  Utilities, Office Expense, or Taxes & Licenses?
Recommendation: Utilities or Office Expense

Here we get different opinions.  For Cheryl, “In a simple set of books I would classify payments to a Web Services Provider to utilities as you are utilizing their program.”  However, Jeanné recommends placing them under Office Expense.

8. Postage
There are still times when you have to send this by snail mail.  And that does in fact cost money.

Which do I choose:  Supplies, Office Expense, Other Expense?
Recommendation: Office Expense if small, Other Expenses if significant

According to Jeanné, you would place the costs under “Office Expense if it is a few rolls of stamps or the postage meter for letters.”  However, for large shipping costs, place them under Other Expenses.

9.Coffee machine, coffee and filters
You need your caffeine, we know.  But what kind of deduction is that?

Which do I choose: Supplies or Office Expense?
Recommendation:  Office Expense

“Office Supplies are physical widgets and stuff you use up (paper clips, pens, sticky notes, toner, legal pads, thumb drives, computer supplies, planners and calendars, etc),” says Jeanné. “Office expense might be more substantial or service related  (janitorial supplies, cleaning service, coffee supplier, water cooler, etc.)”

Bonus expenses: Using the “other expenses” category

The following are very common self-employed expenses that should be placed under the “other expenses” category:

* Bank/ATM fees
* Survey and research costs
* Professional “How To” Books (web design, programming, etc.)

From Wall Street Journal’s Independent Street, there’s a really great article that lists things that the current administration can do now to help women business owners.

1. Re-evaluate Small Business Administration lending programs.

2. Give tax credits to angel investors.

3. Create tax incentives for improving employees’ experience.

4. Ensure women-owned businesses win at least 5% of federal contracts.

5. Increase funding for federal entrepreneurs’ support organizations, such as Women’s Business Centers and SCORE.

6. Ease costs and regulations for “microbusinesses.”

WCBS presents its ninth annual Working Women’s Luncheon on Wednesday April 22 at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center. Women For Hire CEO Tory Johnson will be the keynote speaker.  Tickets are $50.  (until April 1st)

The luncheon will open up with a unique networking session that leads to an interview with Tory Johnson, hosted by WCBS-AM Morning Anchor, Pat Carroll. Come hear Tory and her team discuss networking, career change, marketing and reinventing yourself.

Myra Binstock is the owner of Myra Binstock Legal Search, a search firm specializing in the placement of Intellectual Property attorneys (patent, trademark and copyright).  Myra is a former paralegal whose own career includes years both as an administrative assistant to an Appellate Division Judge and sole paralegal for a Fortune 100 corporation. She understands the working environment of companies and law firms, and knows how to match the right person to the job.  With respect to networking, Myra’s particular interest is in connecting sole practitioners, an area that has been for heretofore neglected. There is a strong need for an active network from which overflow work and mergers can be developed, and she is dedicated to building this market.

1.  How did you get started doing what you do?

I got started in my business 20 years ago when I was looking for a new paralegal job.  I had been working at Ingersoll-Rand Company in Woodcliff Lake, NJ for 10 years and it was getting stale.  I was getting a divorce and my daughter suggested that I might find better opportunities in New York.  So, I had a guy I was dating drive me to a recruiting firm on 42nd Street (right by the lions at the Public Library).  I asked him to wait while I dropped off my resume.  I emerged three hours later!   The firm had made me an offer to be the new  Office Manager and I had accepted.  (Luckily, my friend was still there.)  After learning her business for  a year, I moved to another firm that subsequently went out of business.  At that point, I had been placing intellectual property attorneys and I decided to start my own firm.

2.  What is your biggest joy and what is your biggest headache?

My biggest joy is feeling a sense of accomplishment and being able to make my own business decisions and succeeding.  Before, I was just a cog in a big wheel.  Now, I’m at the helm, and if I make a mistake, I pick myself up, dust myself off and start again.  It gives me a sense of who I am and what I can do.  My biggest headache is the pressure of being in a commission business and learning how to allocate money towards expenses.  There is a definite ebb and flow in my field of work. 

3.  Where do you spend most of your time online (business-wise)?

Most of my time on-line is spent at sites of law firms and corporations I want to call for job orders.   I familiarize myself with what they do and how they work.  And, then I call applicants who, I feel, would  be good for a particular client.  I also spend time on IP-related sites and Linkedin.

4.  What is the one thing, person, service or resource you can’t do without?

I can’t do without a daily game of Scrabble with my daughter on Facebook.  It keeps me close to my family and grounded.  We’ve never gotten along so well before and we can make comments to each other and stay in touch.  I go back to work reinvigorated and feeling renewed.

5.  What do you wish someone had told you the day you started your business?

I don’t wish I had been told anything before I went into this business.  When I was younger, I wanted to be an archeologist.  That wasn’t in the cards.  Now, I view all the things I’ve learned in my business as an adventure to discovering an old relic….. me!

We can all use this, true? From Daily Candy - Smart Money 

Most of you probably have some semblance of an investment account, whether that be and IRA or 401K. If not, you should open one. Check About’s site for more information. I’m going to assume these accounts of yours are losing a lot of money right now. If not, I want to see your portfolio! On average, retirement accounts are down at least 20% from 2008. However, you may want to check your account to see if you are investing in mutual funds. What are they? Well, in short they are “professionally managed type of collective investment schemes that pools money from many investors and invests it in stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, and/or other securities” - Wiki’s definition, not mine.

What they forget to tell you about mutual funds is that they are basically stock plans that are bound to do worse than the stock mark index and will charge you fees on top of it. In 2008, most funds, even the top rated funds had terrible returns. For more see the NYT article. What many people don’t know about their mutual fund is how often and when they will be charged fees. And since everything is in one retirement account, which is already under a fee schedule, it can be hard to account for.

To start, if you have a mutual fund look up everything you can regarding its fee structure and performance. My advice, sell the fund and trade it for an index fund. Index funds are not actively managed but automatically track the stock market so they by default have lower fees. [For more info check About’s site.] Even the best mutual fund managers have trouble beating the index fund and you will be bound to see a greater return on your investment with one. Sure the market is terrible right now, but it will get better and by ridding yourself of mutual funds, you can maximize your investments now.

Banned by the US Catholic League for her dirty ditties and ribald jokes, controversial New York musician Jessica Delfino combines a host of quirky videos and instruments, from the flying-V ukelele to the rape whistle, with her own smart and edgy brand of comedy. She has performed in many festivals such as the Montreal Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Fest, Dublin Comedy Festival, NY International Children’s Film Festival and more. She has written songs for the documentary “What Would Jesus Buy?” and has had her music videos featured on YouTube and Myspace.  Visit Jessica’s Wikipedia entry to read her extended bio.

1.  How did you get started doing what you do?

I had a very funny Italian family and we watched a lot of movies and stand up comedy together. Later in life I met a comedian who told me that women couldn’t be comedians. That combo platter pretty much sealed the deal. I also heard that my great grandmother (my grandfather’s mother, but she was also pretty great) was a very ribald woman who told dirty jokes all the time, so it may even have been beyond my control. I might have been forced into this line of work by nature and genetics. Thanks a lot, DNA!!

2.  What is your biggest joy and what is your biggest headache?

Biggest joy - appreciation for what I do, from peers I love and admire and from miscellaneous weirdos alike.  There is nothing like hundreds of people in a room laughing at something I wrote, or someone I have silently admired for years from afar emailing me to say they love my work.

Biggest headache - flying. I cannot WAIT for the instant teleporter machine to hurry up and be invented already.  (What is this, 1954?  Where’s the damn insta-porter?)

3.  Where do you spend most of your time online (business-wise)?

Watching videos on YouTube (mostly old Chaka Khan and other music videos) and dicking around on Facebook.  It may sound like I’m just horsing around but I actually get a lot from those sites.

4.  What is the one thing, person, service or resource you can’t do without?

Mac products have really changed my life. My MacBook is an amazing piece of machinery, and my iPhone makes me feel like I’m super-organized even when I’m not. With those two tools, I can run my whole business anywhere in the world.  Of course, the technology is useless without my guitar, my flying-V ukulele and my rape whistle and other instruments with which I use to kick out the jams. But ultimately, a pen and piece of paper is really all I need.

5.  What do you wish someone had told you the day you started your business?

Welcome to your vampire lifestyle. You are going to be busting your ass every second that you’re awake for many, many years to come. The Catholic League will denounce you, Youtube will ban and remove your videos, and industry people and peers will try to sabotage you. But then other surprise people and heroes and great shows will keep you going. You are going to fall into bed like a baked potato around 2 or 3 AM every night. You are going to have to fly a lot. But now that I think of it, someone did tell me all that. And I did it anyway. 

Summer is a healthy chef, nutrition coach and owner of Summer’s Nutrition Kitchen.  She has been passionate about food and the power to heal her whole life.  She cooks all kinds of food, but specializes in vegan/vegetarian cuisine, along with cooking for people with food allergies, candida, and digestive issues.  Her formal training includes the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts and the Academy of Healing Nutrition.  Summer specializes in making healthy food delicious, fun, and easy.  Summer currently cooks as a private chef and conducts cooking workshops throughout New York City.  She grew up in a small town in rural Nebraska and attended college at Iowa State University before moving to New York.

1.  How did you get started doing what you do?

Since I was in my early teens, I developed an interest in food and specifically the effect it has on the body.  Over time I began researching information about food and health.  It was just very interesting to me and I saw myself change in the process.  I adapted my diet to a more healthy way of eating, and I felt myself getting healthier, happier, I lost weight and many of my allergies went away.  So to me, that was a huge motivation to get into the food and nutrition business because I wanted to share my knowledge with others.  After several years of working in office jobs that I had no interest in, I decided it was time to make my passion my career.  I quit my job, went to culinary school and holistic health counseling school, and began the business I have now.  I created my own business because I was trained in a more alternative way of diet and nutrition coaching (along with the fact that I live that way), and the majority of what is out there is based on conventional nutrition, which I disagree with on several accounts.  However, things are changing, which is great to see.

2.  What is your biggest joy and what is your biggest headache?

My biggest joy is creating my own vision.  My biggest headache is running my vision and taking on the business aspect of it, rather than just being able to work on the creative aspect of it.

3.  Where do you spend most of your time online (business-wise)? 

I did find use the free resources provided by NYC for those starting up a business.   [Ed. Note – there are great city and state resources all over the web.  For locals here in NYC, the most comprehensive I’ve found is here on the NYC website.]

4.   What is the one thing, person, service or resource you can’t do without?

I can’t do without a lot of things.  I think right now it would have to be my IT guy.  It might be different next month.

5.  What do you wish someone had told you the day you started your business?

I did a lot of research before starting my own business and no matter what anyone told me, it was something I needed to experience hands-on because no matter what there are a million things that you come across, some of them you are warned about and some of them you are not.  So I’m not sure if there is any secret bullet of advice that I would have liked to have gotten.

From the NY Times today - capitalism is not dead, ladies!  Seed funding for NY-grown tech companies.