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Non-Shit-Talk of Your Day

edited September 2010 in Everything Else
Today I made it so that frontrowcrew.com automatically tweets out a link to an old episode every morning.
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  • I suppose Rym and Scott aren't going to be the main contributors here.
  • I suppose Rym and Scott aren't isn't going to be the main contributors here.
  • And now I have one more reason. I'm glad I'm not on twitter.
  • When did you say you would do such a thing?
  • What is the reasoning for doing this?

    (I hope to post to this thread by tonight or tomorrow for my own shit-talking aka PROJECT ST!)
  • RymRym
    edited September 2010
    I'm going about as strong as I can considering that France has not yet taken Japan's capital... Today:
    1. I figured out how much money I have to pay and what forms I have to fill out to legally sell T-shirts online. (I am confident that almost noone we know in the podcasting world is doing this fully legally).
    2. I arranged an event for us this Saturday (details TBA).
    3. I video synced all of the tracks from our Project ST work the other weekend.
    All in all, not a bad day.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • I figured out how much money I have to pay and what forms I have to fill out to legally sell T-shirts online. (I am confident that almost noone we know in the podcasting world is doing this fully legally).
    Do you really expect to make enough money from selling podcast t-shirts that the government is going to come after you for tax money?
  • edited September 2010
    I figured out how much money I have to pay and what forms I have to fill out to legally sell T-shirts online. (I am confident that almost noone we know in the podcasting world is doing this fully legally).
    That is because it is not cost effective to do it fully legally unless you are doing at least medium-scale business. The measly amount of profit you would make would be far below the amount you have to dish out for various filings and the work you have to do on taxes and accounting. There is a reason that most crafters do a significant portion of their business in cash.
    I figured out how much money I have to pay and what forms I have to fill out to legally sell T-shirts online. (I am confident that almost noone we know in the podcasting world is doing this fully legally).
    Do you really expect to make enough money from selling podcast t-shirts that the government is going to come after you for tax money?
    Rym works in a field where fucking around with your money is a bad idea. Even if the government doesn't come after him big time, if it came out that there was unreported income or illegal sales going on, it could be icky. It's probably advisable for him to do this the legal way since he doesn't need the extra income.
    Post edited by Nuri on
  • I have fuck-all to do tonight, so I'm laying out basic character designs for my comic and starting to hash out ideas. I'm aiming for a minimalist art style, which will probably end up with a huge KC Green/Johnny Ryan/john campbell influence. I'd like to eventually do mixed media and have photographic backgrounds, but that probably won't happen. Regardless, I actually started the project.

    I also got to work on getting into the UIUC honors college of Molecular and Cellular Bio. So begins my slow march towards multiple doctorates!
  • Today I made it so that frontrowcrew.com automatically tweets out a link to an old episode every morning.
    How about an RSS feed that randomly (without replacement) covers older episodes, a couple times a week?
  • RymRym
    edited September 2010
    Rym works in a field where fucking around with your money is a bad idea. Even if the government doesn't come after him big time, if it came out that there was unreported income or illegal sales going on, it could be icky. It's probably advisable for him to do this the legal way since he doesn't need the extra income.
    Exactly. I can't get away with doing things shadily like most Internet people can. Unfortunately, our current system makes it practically impossible to do anything non-shadily without a lawyer.

    Guh. To sell a few tshirts online, I'm going to have to regularly (quarterly) file sales tax reports to New York, even if I don't sell anything to anyone in New York. I spoke with someone on the government question hotline, only to discover that no one involved at any level even understands what I'm trying to do.

    G: "So, you're manufacturing the clothes in Queens?"
    R: "No, just selling them online."
    G: "From your store."
    R: "Yes."
    G: "You'll need x requirements fulfilled before you can let customers enter the store. You also need to set up waste management."
    R: "It's an online store."
    G: "..."
    R: "There's no physical store. It's a web site. People buy things from the web site."
    G: "So where is your business?"
    R: "My apartment."
    G: "Well, you need to meet all of those requirements to let your customers into you apartment."
    R: "No one will ever enter my apartment: it's an online store only."
    G: "Then where is your business?"
    R: "..."
    G: "Where do you manufacture the clothes? Your apartment?"
    R: "No, I just order them from someone else."
    G: "What does your company intend to do exactly?"
    R: "Sell Tshirts to promote our podcast."
    G: "Podcast?"
    R: "Like a radio show, but on the Internet."
    G: "Ahh, radio! You have to do x unrelated things before you can broadcast."
    R: "..."
    Post edited by Rym on
  • Go to the New York State Small Business Development Center, if you haven't already. There's an office at LaGuardia Community College and another at York.
  • Go to theNew York State Small Business Development Center, if you haven't already. There's an office at LaGuardia Community College and another at York.
    I've been all over that shit. The real issue is that the gap between doing nothing and doing anything, no matter how small, is enormous. I don't want to have to file quarterly tax reports just to sell some Tshirts at a loss.

    I might be able to get around some of this if we simply refuse to sell to anyone in New York State.
  • If it's not money you're looking for, are you alright with us coming up with our own t-shirts and passing them around? I'd like to see how the creative commons works with apparel.
  • If it's not money you're looking for, are you alright with us coming up with our own t-shirts and passing them around? I'd like to see how the creative commons works with apparel.
    Actually, I totally am. And since I'm doing all the bullshit of incorporating anyway, I think I'd be willing to sell any good designs you guys came up with at-cost. (No money for you, none for me, but the shirt gets out there to people who want it with credit).

    Of course, I am not authorizing this currently. Legally, I need to license the trademarks for GeekNights and/or Front Row Crew to you in order to protect them. A standard license for anyone who wants to design shirts has thus been added to my queue.

    1. Legal bullshit
    2. Tshirt store with the original tshirt and poster
    3. Standard contract for licensing our trademarks (probably a penny for lifetime rights)
    4. Our own new Tshirt designs to be added to the store
    5. User-generated tshirts to be sold if they're popular


    Creative Commons is awesome, but I've realized several points at which it is incompatible with or dangerous in light of trademark law (as opposed to copyright law). The moral: don't make and distribute any Tshirts using "GeekNights" or "Front Row Crew" trademarks at this time. I am legally obligated to say as much. Rest assured, I will sort this out as soon as I am able, as I look forward to community-driven shirt designs. ^_^
  • I take it "Warm today, Warm yesterday" and "WOMAN!" aren't trademarked.
  • I take it "Warm today, Warm yesterday" and "WOMAN!" aren't trademarked.
    Oh, by all means not. But you can't put, say, our logo on the shirt anywhere, or even "GeekNights" until I file some paperwork.

    It's all just legal BS now that we're trying to do things legit. ;^)
  • You Have my Sword. And two of these -
    image
  • Did you already trademark GeekNights and/or Front Row Crew? I thought you hadn't actually done that yet.
  • RymRym
    edited September 2010
    Did you already trademark GeekNights and/or Front Row Crew? I thought you hadn't actually done that yet.
    We have a solid common law trademark on both, and I'm currently in the process of registering them. Until that is complete, I am unable to license either to anyone.

    Happily, we've proven ownership and use of both pretty handily, making the process much simpler than it otherwise might have been.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • If you're not making any money off the merch, hopefully you're at least going to benefit on your taxes. I have a very loose understanding of small business tax breaks, but if you've set aside a certain portion of your apartment as studio space for Geeknights business only, you should be able to count an equal portion of your rent & utilities as deductible expenses for operating a home business. That should be a pretty penny.
  • The retail license system is totally not set up for sellers without a brick & mortar store. They get very confused when you try to register something where you only do craft shows and online sales, but have no actual store premises. It's not just NY... it's everywhere. In NC, I eventually just gave up, ignored zoning, registered my home address, and told them I wasn't storing inventory because there is no specified store room, which is what they were asking for.

    Of course then I moved to NY... so I'm in the process of figuring out what to register all over again. Fucking NY and their different sales tax rates for every fucking county... >_<

    The crux of the issue is that America hates hobbyists. Between the registration fees, the tax hoops, and the CPSIA requirements, it is practically impossible for anyone trying to do anything small-scale to comply with every law regulating them. Because of that, many people just say "fuck it" and don't register anything at all. You lose more money on the time you spend preparing the admin stuff than you make from your sales. There really ought to be a specific exemption for people below a certain annual amount of business.
  • There really ought to be a specific exemption for people below a certain annual amount of business.
    Like Rym's idea, on a recent show, of a hobbyist business license. Pay $50, or whatever, and everything's taxed at income tax rate, no business deductions, or whatever.
  • Like Rym's idea, on a recent show, of a hobbyist business license. Pay $50, or whatever, and everything's taxed at income tax rate, no business deductions, or whatever.
    I would love something like that for beer brewing, but food production is a different beast.

    I wonder if perhaps you could find a way to classify your business as something else. Internet sales are closer in spirit to a mail-order company that doesn't operate its own warehouse. Maybe try that approach?
  • I wonder if perhaps you could find a way to classify your business as something else. Internet sales are closer in spirit to a mail-order company that doesn't operate its own warehouse. Maybe try that approach?
    At least in the state of California, there is no distinction. Everyone pays for the same general merchant license pretty much no matter what you're doing. It's probably different in NY, but if the lady on the phone was unable grasp what Rym is doing, then your state probably doesn't make a distinction either.
  • Interesting - Down here, I could walk out my door at nine AM tomorrow, and pretty much have a Legally operating business by the afternoon - I know, because I've done it, and I'm still pretty much a company, as are a few of my friends. Other than Bank accounts and Registering your business, the only real trouble beyond that is at tax time, where you gotta make sure you fill out the right forms.

    Unless you're starting anywhere that sells or manufactures food or drink, then you're in for a world of hurt. And by hurt, I mean Paperwork, inspections, restrictions, and lots of other rigmarole.
  • edited September 2010
    It's probably different in NY, but if the lady on the phone was unable grasp what Rym is doing, then your state probably doesn't make a distinction either.
    New York is complicated and, in some places, archaic.
    And by hurt, I mean Paperwork, inspections, restrictions, and lots of other rigmarole.
    I've determined that being an astronaut is easier than opening a small brewery.
    Post edited by TheWhaleShark on
  • edited September 2010
    I've determined that being an astronaut is easier than opening a small brewery.
    It's odd down here - You'd be able to sell your brew or any other food item at market, most likely get away with it in the brew's case(OF COURSE, selling booze without a licence is very shaky and real fuckin' shady), and definitely get away with it for any other food or mostly non-alcoholic beverage, as long as you didn't make over a certain amount from it, but the moment you incorporated, then bend over and prepare to receive one big pineapple. How big?
    image
    The government here takes anything to do with Food-and-drink based businesses SUPER seriously.

    Though, on the flip-side, you can get everything but vessels and equipment(Well, I suppose, unless you really need some super esoteric stuff) for brewing down here in damn near every supermarket(in some, you can even buy small amounts of bottles), and Distilling equipment is freely bought and sold, there are even speciality stores for it. Within 24 hours from this point, I could have any brew of about a half dozen types fermenting away in the back shed without signifigant effort.

    Though, I have seen people sell beer and liquor at market, by simply saying they're for cooking, not consumption, and wine is regularly seen at markets.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • It's odd down here - You'd be able to sell your brew or any other food item at market, most likely get away with it in the brew's case
    Oh, I'm sure I could do it, but I'm also a public figure, and my department is one of the agencies responsible for regulating breweries.

    Funny enough, I'm in very nearly the same position as Rym, except that the stuff I'm trying to do involves even more hoops and expenses. Either of us could do what we want to do on the shady side of things, but it's a really really bad idea.

    Also, in no way do I advocate circumventing extant regulations for the purposes of conducting business, or for any other purpose, nor do my comments reflect the endorsement of such action by the Department of Agriculture and Markets.

    /ass, meet cover
  • Oh, I'm sure Icoulddo it, but I'm also a public figure, and my department is one of the agencies responsible for regulating breweries.
    Not down here, you wouldn't be. ;)
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