Creative people (like all people) love to spend money, but not the way most of the world thinks we do.
In my, still limited, experience they love to spend on two main things:
- Their business (training, travel, making stuff)
- Charity
This is why I absolutely love you crazy folks.
It’s actually making me feel like a real jerk to continually convince people to hold off on giving money to worthy causes… just for a little bit…
But I stand by it because it’s my job to make sure you’re taking care of yourself first.
A lesson from a kind hearted little boy who didn’t know any better
I like to help people.
I’ve always been one who can’t quite focus when there’s someone in the room who’s upset. So when I was a little kid… I had to make sure that everyone was okay.
A joke or a hug turned into a casserole or a search for the perfect advice as I got older.
But I got into trouble by stretching myself way too thin.
I gave too much to other people, and didn’t take care of myself… and then things would fall apart a little bit.
It took a long long time, but slowly I’ve learned that in order to take care of things outside of yourself, you have to take care of yourself first.
And I’ve dragged that lesson in the world of finances.
Sacrifice isn’t the same as starving
I think we need to draw a line in the sand.
People think that in order to be successful they need to risk everything. We’ve heard that story again and again.
And so we try to live it out. We want big things, we have big dreams and we’re willing to do anything to get them.
Until we burn out.
In a short period of time we’ve given everything we have, and are left with nothing.
I want something different.
It’s not as fast, and it’s not as sexy… but it’s sustainable.
It allows you to slowly work on the things that are important to you… while still supporting the things your mind, body and soul need.
Finding your point of sustainable growth
It starts with accepting that you need to take care of YOU first.
Before paying for that lesson, and before supporting one of a thousand causes… your money needs to pay rent, buy good food, and support your other basic needs.
And it’s not about being greedy.
If you truly care about supporting these things, then you need to take care of your ability to support them.
And that means making sure you don’t burn out in the next 2 years.
You need to know what you can afford to do now, and then force yourself to stay in your lane…. taking small consistent steps forward every month.
That’s where your power comes from – committing to small steps over the long haul.
It’s not as sexy as giving up ‘everything’ for a bigger cause.
But I’m convinced it can still change the world.
Emily Nixon
Rags to Reasonable Community Outreach Coordinator
Emily Nixon is an actor/writer/director/filmmaking Swiss Army Knife. She is also a big money nerd and Community Outreach Coordinator for Rags to Reasonable.
She came to this work after becoming completely fed up with living paycheque-to-paycheque and being too afraid to look in her chequing account. She is passionate about empowering other artists and variable income earners to keep doing what they love and feel confident about their finances.
Email Emily at emily@ragstoreasonable.com
