TAG: budgeting for musicians

Managing The Unpredictable: 5 Steps to Help Manage Your Freelance Finances

If you are a freelance musician, you undoubtedly love the fact that you are making a living from your passion, together with freedom that comes along with being in charge of your own life. And yet, that life is fraught with uncertainty, particularly related to your finances: Can I really make money as a freelancer? How can I make money …

Financial Management for Musicians Part II: How To Create a Financial Plan

In my previous blog post on financial management for musicians, I outlined the basics of acquiring financial literacy.  The next step is to put this information together and to make a financial plan.

When we did this exercise in my class, my students were encouraged by this process since it enabled them to take the amorphous concept of “How do I make money as a musician????” and break it down into manageable action steps that they could begin working on right now. Not only did this seem doable but my students were actually excited about engaging in the process.  Armed with this knowledge, they felt ready to take themselves seriously as professionals by adopting the mindset of a business owner.

So let’s take a look at the process in greater detail.

Financial Management for Musicians Part I: How To Take Charge of Your Finances

Financial planning is an essential skill for musicians so for the past few weeks, my class has been focused on helping my students to learn the basics of financial management and create their personal financial plans. Once again my friend Jim Remis, partner in a boutique accounting firm and Chairman of the Board of the Hartford Symphony, visited our class and together we provided my students with the kind of information that they need in order to have a comfort level around their finances:  earning revenue creatively and from a variety of sources, budgeting, saving, avoiding debt and basic tax planning.

Here are some basic pointers in order to get started.