TheChairman: Created page with "==Article Transcript== When I get old and losing my hearing…when I’m 64! Not to wish away my years, I’m just 60, but now a bit wiser with deeper knowledge and experience..."

2020-08-05T05:31:23Z

Created page with "==Article Transcript== When I get old and losing my hearing…when I’m 64! Not to wish away my years, I’m just 60, but now a bit wiser with deeper knowledge and experience..."

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==Article Transcript==
When I get old and losing my hearing…when I’m 64!
Not to wish away my years, I’m just 60, but now a
bit wiser with deeper knowledge and experience. As
a way younger emerging artist, I lived in the moment. I was naïve
about many financial business matters, believed my passion
could overcome all, and was stubbornly loathsome of paying
taxes on cash income, paying business license fees—
where the heck is there money left for my hard and
loving labor of drawing great caricatures!? My
goal was to be footloose, free, and independent
and live as much as possible away
from formal business dealings. Like many, I
partly worked the world under the table. The
truth can hurt, but the rarely told secret to
success is long-term financial planning and
starting to honor your profession as an artist
from the beginning by doing it legally and
out from under the table. It may seem that in
the short term avoiding the legal radar puts
more money in your pocket, keeps you in
control, and massages your independent and
libertarian leaning, but this strategy is flawed,
especially if you want longevity.

We all know how important it is to keep
artistic skills, adaptability, flexibility, and
readiness at peak level. No one wants to miss
out on opportunity. It is too hard to survive as
an artist too willingly to do so. A critical way
to limit becoming a casualty is to eliminate
illegal business methodology. We live in a
punitive post 9/11 environment where tax
fraud, RICO Laws, forfeiture laws, and excessive
fines can ruin a future without mercy. Just
get pulled over by law enforcement with lots
of cash on you without convincing evidence
once, and it could have catastrophic consequences.
There is plenty of documentation
of just this happening to sweet, honest, and
well-intentioned folks.

Sooner than one may suspect, you can go
from a lone caricature artist living from gig to
gig with full, but shallow, pockets to finding
yourself wanting to nest, maybe pair up with a
love bug and buy or rent property, or capitalize
on an artistic opportunity not previously considered.
To do this you will need deep documentation
as to the legitimacy of your business,
without which, potential will be compromised
and opportunity may be lost! I always look for
ways to maximize and expand on any art opportunity
available, and to offer an example of
what I am suggesting, I have a little story.

In 2007 I found myself in the position to be the
second American EVER since Castro came to
power to have a solo art exhibition in Havana,
Cuba. This was one of those opportunities of a
lifetime that I could have never foreseen. I had
to provide legal documentation of my artist status
to convince the U.S. Treasury Department
to issue me an exception to an over-50-year
economic boycott against Cuba by granting me
a permit to export and import artwork through
Federal customs, and also satisfy demands of
the minister of culture in the Castro government
to allow passage of me and my artwork
into and out of Cuba. By this time I had built
years of legitimate art business status and I was prepared to turn on a dime to successfully navigate
this complex, confusing, and bureaucratic
quagmire. I was already set up with a DBA (legal
tax business status of “Doing Business As”), I
had years of tax records, I was insured under a
business name, I had mucho declared money in
both liquidity and investments, I had a business
address, which is my home studio/gallery of
one full floor or 1/3 sq. footage of my home that
met business tax code standards legitimizing
tax deductions, yearly percentage deductions of
utilities, etc. and whatever request came from
officials, I was capable of providing a preponderance
of evidence substantiating my petition for
a travel visa. My permit was granted in time to
make all necessary arrangements. I have had
many similar experiences where I was successful
in maximizing opportunity because I had full
legal art business status. There are many times
that success is not about being the best, but
being the ready best.

I recently produced and self-published a book
of my caricatures that interpret the election
cycle of 2012 through my lens. An abundance
of financing was available to me because I was
legitimate. The entire process of expenses,
fees, sales, postage, materials, mileage, wear
and tear, and all related accounting business
aspects are itemized on a spreadsheet under
my DBA to be processed in my tax paperwork.
Any and all connections, correspondences, and
opportunities that are a result from this book
I can maximize as an above-the-table-artist.
One such spinoff is that I have been invited to
be a paid guest lecturer at university art history
classes. In addition, my very first exposure at a
global news media outlet, The Huffington Post,
is a direct result of my cross-marketing strategy
and because I occupy artistic real estate
above the table.

Any time a customer enters my studio, if
they somehow trip, slip, have a heart attack
from viewing my acerbic artwork, fall into
my toilet and break their neck and need a
lifetime of 24-hour care, I can sleep at night
knowing I am a legitimate business with more
than necessary liability insurance. It is vital
to understand liability because if misfortune
strikes, you can lose everything. Is that worth
the extra under-the-table-cash income? Are
you an insured art business?

I do not intend to give any tax or legal advice
here or preach. I am not qualified. I hire paid
professionals to provide me with a means
to be professional. I want to produce the
best professional artwork I can, whether it is
caricatures, or paintings connected to galleries
around the country, and present myself as the
best professional artist possible. I simply want
to provide a window for non-believers, procrastinators,
and those fiercely determined to
caricature below the table to seriously ponder
if that is the limited space you want to inhabit.
You do not want to define limits on your caricaturing
— why do so as the proprietor caricature
artist? Seek professional advice to learn about
costs and benefits and begin organizing for a
larger vision. Many cities have an arts advocate
non-profit organization that can assist and perhaps
even issue grant money for professional
development. Believe it or not, the federal
government provides lots of free assistance. It
is just like your grandparents might have told
you: save a small percentage of money every
week, watch it grow, and in time you will be
amazed at how much independence that will
provide. Establish yourself fully as artist-asbusiness
now and watch how flexible you can
be to seize every opportunity that winks at
ya! Oh, and for the record, I still loathe giving
my money to the insurance industry and the
fee monitors, but at least years of business
crafting built a strong foundation I can stand
on while I laugh at those fantastic caricatures
you all create, and I can live honestly way more
footloose and free from unnecessary legal
entanglements.
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''An award-winning and published political artist whose byline is “Art That Polices Politics” specializing in figurative, narrative and caricatured interpretations of current events. For more on Allen check out these websites:''<br>
www.huffingtonpost.com/allen-schmertzler-/<br>
www.allenschmertzler-artist.com

Out from Under the Table - Revision history

TheChairman: Created page with "==Article Transcript== When I get old and losing my hearing…when I’m 64! Not to wish away my years, I’m just 60, but now a bit wiser with deeper knowledge and experience..."