What’s A Musician To Do In Today’s Economic Environment? (Part 2: Strategies)

The Marlowsphere (#5)

Last week, I left off with this question: If you’re a fine or performing artist, what can you do in today’s economic climate to survive?

There are many answers to this question, some of which you have probably already seen, heard, or read about. But let me start with what I perceive is a central issue and answer, now and for the future:


How Artists Can Embrace A Positive (Non-Scary) Attitude Towards Money

This is not an issue solely the province of those in the fine and performing arts. Many people have a difficult time dealing with money. But let me put it this way. If you don’t deal with the issue of money, it will deal with you.

Money is not a dirty thing and should not be a scary thing. It is a necessary thing. Many people, especially it seems, those devoted to the fine and performing arts, perceive that if you get too close to dealing with money somehow it’s a bad thing, i.e., you’re copping out, selling out your craft, or you’re loath to admit you don’t know what you’re doing. Fact is, in order to have the freedom to explore and produce your art, you need money to sustain you. The key is to start educating yourself about money. It also means spending some time away from your art to deal with money.

So, here are a few ways to get past any notions you may have that money is something you just can’t deal with.

1.      Go to your local bookstore and find a book such as Personal Finance for Dummies. Read it. Slowly. Get familiar with terms and concepts. Let them sink in.

2.      Another book to consider is The Profitable Artist co-published by Artspire and the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). This excellent book covers such topics as planning your career, fundraising, marketing and selling, networking, budgeting and financial basics, and legal requirements and terminology.

3.      You might also apply for NYFA’s summer “Entrepreneurial Bootcamp.” If you’re lucky enough to get selected (as I was in the Summer of 2011), you’ll benefit greatly from the six-week (once-a-week) program.

4.      There are many other books on financial planning, marketing, selling, negotiating, strategic goal-setting, you name it, as well as the business section of The New York Times or the Wall Street Journal to seek out. Just reaching out to any one of these informational resources will move you in the right direction of learning about business and money and getting past the sometimes crippling feeling of uncertainty.

5.      Identify the most financially successful person in your family or a friend, even a friend of a friend, and spend some time talking with that person about how they became financially viable. Speak to as many people as possible about money matters. You don’t have to get into actual numbers, but you do need to hear how these folks approach dealing with money, mistakes they’ve made, and important lessons learned.

6.      Look for free seminars on money and legal matters for artists offered by professional associations. Reserve a seat and go. Bring an artist friend with you if possible. Talk about the seminar’s content immediately after it’s over.

7.      Identify a local college or university and find out if they offer financial planning for individuals on a one-off basis or as part of a certificate program. Take the time to take the course.

8.      Start making your sources of income and expenses real. When money numbers are just floating around in your head, or you leave things to an accountant once a year (he or she has to make it real, otherwise the IRS will come looking for you), you could end up paying more taxes than you need to, or find yourself short at the end of the month, or spending money on people or things that merely drain your limited financial resources. In other words: budget. When it’s in the back of your head it’s not real. When you put it in front of you, i.e., on paper or in an Excel spreadsheet, it becomes more real and less scary. See where money comes from. See where it goes. Do this on a monthly basis. Annualize monthly income and expense. And do this on a net basis. It’s not how much you make that matters, it’s how much you get to keep that counts.

9.      Do a net worth statement at least on a quarterly basis (there are lots of books on this too). Define all your assets (liquid and otherwise). Define all your long-term liabilities. The difference is your net worth. You may discover you’re worth more than you think. Of course, the reverse is also a possibility. Doing this can also raise your level of “financial” understanding and confidence.

 Artists do not, in the main, spend enough time thinking about the financial consequences of their decisions. In a way, it’s commendable that a group of artists are so dedicated to their respective crafts. But such a focus can also be detrimental to a long-term financial foundation.

Some artists, of course, are so good at their art that financial success falls at their feet. These are the rare exceptions. Other artists succeed just from dumb luck: they were in the right place at the right time with the right connection. On the other hand, there are others who achieve financial success only to lose it because of unscrupulous managers and promoters, poor business decisions, or just plain financial irresponsibility. These artists just expected things to go right. They didn’t pay enough attention to the business vagaries of their work.

This is a challenging period for artists. It is also a period of opportunity (more on this in later blogs). But it is no longer an option for artists of any stripe to ignore the financial aspects of their lives. You cannot eat or pay the rent with applause or the appreciation of your peers. At the very least, artists need to become more adept at dealing with money and accepting the need to deal with money. Unfortunately, many, if not most, just don’t want to have to think about it.

I saw this (again) first hand last summer as a member of the NYFA sponsored 2011 “Entrepreneurial Bootcamp” (mentioned above). The entire six weeks was devoted to the very subjects I am advocating in this blog, particularly finances. At the end of the program there was talk of mounting a “Festival” in early 2012 (It happened, BTW). About half of the participants chose to work on it. Came time, though, to form groups to organize various aspects of the multi-disciplinary, multi-week Festival—such as Programming and Finances—virtually all chose Programming. Only a handful wanted to deal with Finances.

This instance is a large part of the issue. It shows that change is scary and takes time. It’s a long-term process with many small steps along the way. But the sooner an artist begins to embrace money matters, the sooner the artist will be in a better financial place.

Successful money management doesn’t happen all by itself. Neither does artistic success, of course.  It takes work over a period of time. You can’t become a successful musician, for example, by dreaming or willing it. You have to practice. You have to get past the fear of failure. “You have to work at it,” as Frank Sinatra is alleged to have said, “until it doesn’t fail you.”

Spend some time working on money matters until it doesn’t scare you and you’ll benefit long-term.

Eugene Marlow
April 8, 2012

© Eugene Marlow 2012

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