Originally Posted by
HiTempguy1
For accounting, I currently use WaveApps, which is free and online.
I like it because I also use it to do invoicing. Maybe not a problem since Etsy takes care of that sort of stuff for you. Fuck excel, for the love of christ I know you are all engineers and shit but seriously, just get a proper program.
I would highly suggest taking your taxes to a professional come tax time, but you really don't need an accountant for what you are doing. At least for the first go around so you can see what they did for you.
As for sole prop vs corporation... From a financial perfect world standpoint, LLC makes sense once you start making more money.
However, the expenses of just operating go up drastically when you are just around the threshold. And as the title LLC implies, unless you are worried about liability issues, the hassle may not be worth it.
My business is still a sole prop. Because of this, it was much easier (and higher risk on my part) to get funding/loans as they are tied to me personally. All things to consider depending on how serious you are. Eventually I will go LLC, but paying out the ass for tax returns, insurance requirements, etc etc isn't worth it right now.
If the business really takes off, there is nothing stopping you from going LLC from a sole prop. The other way around is not really a thing.
So in short, if you are testing the waters/getting stuff figured out, I'd suggest sole prop as startup/sunk costs are a lot lower.
In the long run, if you have a successful business, the extra money wasted won't matter, but in the short term, going sole prop allows you to focus more on dealing with the damn business.
However, all of this assumes you are doing something with low liability/risk. If you are selling products that have high risk/liability issues surrounding them, go LLC full stop.