yay! my new mall gig & hiring employees

Hi everyone,
I'm really excited and just wanted to share my new gig with you all! I'm signing a contract with the shopping mall and I'm getting a great deal. I approached them after turning away 10 random kids when I was painting at a private birthday party 2 weeks ago at the Build-a-Bear. They are excited and enthusiastic about having me because the children's play area is not large enough and they want to keep kids happy so parents will shop longer, they are HOOKING ME UP...I'm excited because I'm getting air-conditioned booth space (in humid 100+ degrees F summer temps) during prime time on the weekends for really cheap, and they're giving me storage space so I don't have to lug everything in every day. Better than any other random PPF event or festival I could hope to book outdoors in this heat! And a steady gig so I always have work even on those few weekends I don't have parties booked.

I had my first paid birthday party in February, my business is really taking off after only 4-months, more because I found a niche in the market (seriously NO face painters in this town except an all inclusive clown and petting zoo entertainment that uses acrylic craft paint on naive children, I've had to try to scrub this crap off of kids faces before painting them and it's horrendous!) and less because I'm super amazing like so many on this forum, (but I do good work compared to the competition! )

I'm also beginning to advertise in a family friendly circulation that targets wealthy families beginning in July, I expect business to boom even more because of that. I'm looking at hiring help, starting with a few girls to do glitter tattoos...and maybe eventually train other painters....I don't know anything about being an employer, I never expected things to pick up like this when I started out a few months ago, I just wanted to paint a few birthday parties. What can I say? I'm really really lucky and I LOVE what I do!

If anyone can give advice on where to start with hiring/training employees or any suggestions for my mall gig, I'd really appreciate it. I feel I'm in a little over my head. I'm a sole proprietor now...with an EIN, a PO box, a paypal account and a contract recreated from a copy of Martha's. (thanks Martha!) I'm definitely open to any business do's and don'ts.

Thanks for reading my lengthy post!
Lindsey

I'm not a pro so no advice here but... YAY FOR YOU!

Oh, and you may try to write "mall" or "hire" in the Search Box to find some help. Just a thought, hope that helps

Wow! If only I could get that lucky! Congrats

I have 8 people who work for me, 6 are artists, and each season I've added two more (so far- may have to add more sooner) to keep up with the growth.

If you PM me your questions, I'll be more than happy to answer, or I can even send you my phone number if you prefer to set up a chat date. :-)

Congrats to you!

Thanks, every one! And the inquiries keep coming...Lynnie, I would love to pick your brain! Look for my PM. Thanks

I just wanted to say GRATS! That is so exciting. Keep us posted on how it goes!

If you can take a class with Kerry Ann Smith, it will be worth it's weight in gold to you. She has great tips on how to work the system so you can maximize your employees as independent contractors and have fewer tax issues to worry about.

TheGildedCat wrote:If you can take a class with Kerry Ann Smith, it will be worth it's weight in gold to you. She has great tips on how to work the system so you can maximize your employees as independent contractors and have fewer tax issues to worry about.

Cool, do you know if she has resources available online? Tax issues scare the heck out of me, I haven't made it through a tax season as a business owner yet, much less with employees to worry about.