Comments on: The Entrepreneurial Bellydancer

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:30:47 +0000

Hey, Asharah,

Love this post. An additional great read for entrepreneurs is “The Small Business Bible” by Steven D Strauss.

By: Genevieve C.

Genevieve C. — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:35:21 +0000

Mark my words: when I started charging tax, customer mostly stopped to negotiate their price. I felt like I was now in the major league. Awesome feeling!

By: Lilith

Lilith — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:35:22 +0000

Great blog post and great comments! I absolutely agree with you, and I’m just informing myself now how to make my teaching and dancing legal and official come september – that’s when everything begins for real and I can’t wait!

By: asharah

asharah — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:29:24 +0000

Amy – Of course these things depend on the dancer. I didn’t have a tax ID until I officially quit my day job, but I was paying taxes on my earnings and claiming deductions every April 15th. When I made dance my main income, I knew I had to go forth and be completely official. But it really bugs me when dancers don’t even think about it… or they think about it and say, “well, I’m not going to claim this income.” What? It’s one thing to be working on a business plan, figuring out what kind of business to be, or whether or not you’ll even be making enough money to claim it on taxes, but it’s another to say, “Well, I know that I’m supposed to do this legally, but it’s a hassle/I don’t want to claim it/I don’t want to pay taxes on it…”

And thank you for the comment!

By: Amy Danielson

Amy Danielson — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:58:34 +0000

Great ideas, although it always depends on the person – although a tax ID# isn’t hard to get for even the most part time performer. For my business and for my dancing, I’ve been a sole proprietor for many years – and I find it really rewarding. And I absolutely agree. If you expect it to be your living, or a large portion of your living, take the classes to learn how to conduct a business, if you need to, and get a tax ID#. Put some honest work into it and give it an actual shot at succeeding.

There’s nothing that bugs me more than someone who expects others to hire them or to buy their goods, but who doesn’t do the work of creating, branding, marketing, advertising, networking, web development, customer service (yes – even for dancers! customer service is not just for vendors), and all the ‘boring’ paperwork. At least hire someone, if necessary, to do some of those things for you. It does stand to reason that if you treat your business with respect, other people will automatically treat it that way, as well. Although that advice would lean more toward full time vendors and performers.

And who says we make ‘very little’? I know you meant it for the part timers, and most of them do make very little. Oh – I LOVE zenhabits – one of my very few subscriptions. Awesome call. I’ll be checking out some of the other ones, too! Thanks.

By: Irene

Irene — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:06:04 +0000

And thank you so much for those awesome links!

By: Irene

Irene — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:05:29 +0000

I already have a biz/production company name picked out for when that happens. I am thinking ahead and using the name now to try to brand myself as things pick up with my dancing!