by Chris | Jun 23, 2015 | Artist 2 Artist
Any artist knows that moment… it comes up so often… at parties, family gatherings.. basically anytime that small talk goes beyond your name and the weather.
“So… what do you do?”
“I’m an *insert name of art you practise here*.”
*Confused look* “You can make money at that?”
Here's the thing, my well-meaning friend… the answer I want to give is …
“Yes, I easily fulfil all the financial needs in my life, making money is simple in the arts, in fact I am killing it financial-styles.” *drops mic*
... But the truth is often much more complicated than what you want to talk about at your partner’s 5 year old cousin’s birthday party.
I recently wrote about how THE 'AVERAGE' ARTIST DOESN'T MAKE THEIR MONEY SOLELY FROM THEIR ART. Which is true, but begs the question: How do artists make a living? (more…)
by Chris | Jun 16, 2015 | Building an Arts Business, Business Tools
A while ago I talked about how, through separating your personal and business finances, you could pay yourself a salary and better handle the variable income that comes with being a freelancer: artist or otherwise.
But that’s not the only reason for separating your personal life from your business one. And I’m not just talking about record keeping and all that stuff.
It can be a really useful mental distinction.
Mental stuff matters
I think for a lot of small business owners it’s tough to separate what we do, from who we are. That’s probably true of lots of people, freelancer or not, but for us there aren’t some of the natural separations that come from more traditional types of employment.
It’s just you. You’re the boss and the employee. Artist or not, if you pour your heart and soul into a business you believe in it can be hard to figure out where the personal-you ends, and the business-you begins.
So when it comes to applying the idea of a financial plan, it can become confusing and overwhelming because you’re just trying to do so much… and often it doesn’t seem like the two sides fit together all that well.
When I started to get control over my money, I cut back on a lot of things. I was trying to be good. Not spend too much, but the problem was that so many of my business expenses weren’t cheap. (more…)
by Chris | Jun 12, 2015 | Investing, Reference Section
You know what drives me crazy? The completely inferior education being given to those talented children enrolled in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Yes. They are magic children, but does that mean that they don’t need any training in language or math? Does science cease to be relevant if you can conjure matter out of thin air…. Or does it just get super interesting?
And the subjects they do take… what jobs are they being prepared for? Why is care of magical creatures REQUIRED for the first 3 years?! That has senior elective written all over it.
What they should really be teaching is the kind of practical magic that they’ll use every day of their adult lives.
Like the magic of compound interest.
You can believe me or not, but something that outwardly may seem pretty mundane is just as magic as anything you’d learn in a charms class.
Don’t believe me… well let’s start with some basics. (more…)
by Chris | Jun 9, 2015 | Getting Started
I have 4 bags of turmeric in my kitchen. Like… big bags of it.
I don’t really use turmeric for anything. Yet… I have soooooo much of it.
Why is that?
Well, because every time a recipe calls for it (probably a grand total of 4 times) I assume I don’t have it. And purchase myself a fresh new bag.
This happens at the grocery store all the time. I end up in the aisle staring at the spices, or the veggies, trying to remember what’s in my fridge. The more I strain to picture whether there’s a green pepper in the drawer, the more my imagination ‘helps out’ by filling out my mental fridge with all the things that I would want.
But… if my actual fridge is as full as the one in my head…. Then why did I even come to the grocery store?? CHECK MATE BRAIN.
And so I just buy everything.
And now I have 4 bags of turmeric. Mystery solved.
The lesson? Before you even think about getting something new, or changing something, make sure you know what you already have.
And the metaphor comes crashing down!! MWA HAHA… I’m of course talking about your finances.
BOOM.
Didn’t see that coming did y… oh… you did? Whatever…. Want some turmeric?
I’ve talked before about how important it is to start TRACKING YOUR SPENDING. And then there’s also FIGURING OUT YOUR NET WORTH. Both important parts of getting to know the ‘financial you’. But there are a few more things to know…. And remember… just like tracking your spending, or looking at your net worth, this isn’t a judgement-fest. It’s just for your information.
Here are some other financial friends that you should really spend some time with: (more…)
by Chris | Jun 2, 2015 | Budgets, Personal Interest
Last month I took a budget vacation…
As in, a vacation from my budget.
I’ve been a pretty avid budgeter for about 3 years now. It’s the thing that first got me hooked on personal finance. And as much as I know (and I really do…) that it’s not the ‘most fun ever’… I kind of love it.
But the start of this year taught me something I didn’t really know before…
Budgeting isn’t fun at all when you’re not making any money. (more…)
