Running a Side Business: How to Create a Second Income

by Richard Stim, Lisa Guerin

Turn your hobby into a profitable business and enjoy a second income.

In a troubled economy, you've discovered that a single source of income just isn't enough. But how do you start and manage your new venture -- and make a profit to boot?

From crafting to home repair to website design and more, if you've ever wanted to turn your hobby into a business and watch your passion generate cash, Running a Side Business is the book for you. Packed with tips, legal resources, start-up success stories and USA TODAY snapshots and infographics, you'll learn the life cycle of a business and get answers to important questions along the way. Find out how to:

Genres: Business

271 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2009

Reviews

[Nancy]

If you are even thinking of creating a side business then you really need to read this book. While the tax information has changed since 2009 the website he still sends you to is uptodate. This covers all the truly necessary things in a clear and concise manner. Whether working from home or starting a company with employees it covers everything. There is a difference between Sole Proprietor ship and an LLC. This clearly showed me where the difference was and stopped me from wasting money on registering for an LLC when I don't need one since it is only just me at Thisoverstuffedhouse. I have not even come close to making enough to have to follow some of this but I plan to next year and I want to start off with everything in it's place. Consistency, keeping logs and records, are all necessary in ways I never would have thought of. I need to get a few small notebooks so I can track the time spent on a few things.

Seriously, there is a difference between a job and a hobby and there are different rules when selling a piece you create vs. wholesale items. I never knew receipts for the cost of supplies for a craft cannot be written off until you actually sell that craft. This, and so much more that you will not think of on your own, are covered in this little book. It is worth every page.

[PoligirlReads]

While this book occasionally shows its age (references to Desperate Housewives and mp3s of Kelly Clarkson, oy!), it's an extremely informative overview for anyone considering running a side business. If you have experience with running your own business (or working for a small business), you probably already know many of these things. But if you're just starting out, thinking about taxes, marketing, trademarks, etc., is pretty important, and this books helps you with that. Stim is informative without being condescending and has a light humor that I found enjoyable. This is definitely going from a library copy to a permanent one.

[Dixie Jarchow]

Great basic data for someone just starting out

[B]

Skimmed.

[Eric]

Don't waste your time reading through this book. If you're thinking about running another business, I would hope that you've already thought through the issues in this book.

[Ayu]

Informative without being overwhelmingly so. Also provides a lot of book recommendations.

[nerveblot]

Pretty superficial; Nolo has better books on similar topics.