[SOUND] So sometimes in the long long road to 0:05 freelancing there are the inevitable face plants and a 0:07 lot of those are financially related, now often times 0:11 when your looking at business and starting your own. 0:14 There's that daunting figure that like 80% of businesses fail within the first year. 0:18 With the idea of money being sexy, how do you make money sexy? 0:23 By still making it, by making it and then making more 0:28 and not only making it but holding on to some of it. 0:32 So I'm hoping to explore today some ideas of maybe how we can do that. 0:34 A lot of them are practical. 0:37 And a lot of them I'm hoping can be 0:38 translatable to you as well so you can be awesome. 0:40 Anyway, so I have to give a little bit of a disclaimer 0:44 just because all of this information is based on my personal experience. 0:48 I understand that a lot of people might not feel the same 0:51 way that I do about certain elements of how I run my business. 0:53 So just throwing it out there. 0:57 Any numbers I might speak about or throw out, 0:59 you can be happy to debate them with me afterwards. 1:03 Please keep the hating to a considerably pleasant level if possible. 1:05 But anyway, let's jump headlong into controversy, shall we? 1:09 The first thing I would like to talk about is living realistically. 1:14 Essentially. 1:18 Part of living this lifestyle are knowing what your 1:19 limitations are and realizing that sometimes, it's gonna be 1:22 a lot easier to cut back on certain activities 1:26 or to cut back on having the coolest car. 1:29 Sometimes you have to junk around on a computer from 2006, 1:32 which I just did until most recently and then I felt 1:36 like, when I got my 27 inch iMac which I'm so 1:39 thankful for, I feel like I'm going to fall into the internet. 1:42 I mean you plug your phone in and you're expecting to go take a lunch break 1:44 because that's how long it's gonna take to 1:48 upload your Instagram photos to your hard drive. 1:49 And then it's done in 30 seconds. 1:51 And you're like, oh my gosh what do I do with all this extra time. 1:53 It's like time traveling. 1:56 So, I feel like even while that was a frustrating thing 1:58 for me, the incremental growth that I experienced as a business by. 2:02 Starting small and then working into larger, 2:06 better purchases has been a lot more helpful 2:09 for me than trying to, work and just be, living up to other people's standards. 2:11 I feel like it's super important to remember 2:19 that a lot of people will flaunt the 2:21 things that they have and then, of course, not talk about the things that they don't. 2:23 So, when you're starting your business, expect to, 2:27 perhaps, be living on some macaroni and cheese. 2:29 Which is awesome for a long time. 2:33 I feel like creative people never really lose the taste of macaroni and cheese. 2:35 Or peanut butter and jelly. 2:38 It's like ingrained in our DNA from years and years 2:39 and years of constant eating out of jars and such. 2:42 But I feel like, as part of living realistically. 2:45 It's okay to remind yourself that you're not always gonna have the fanciest thing 2:47 but that doesn't mean that you have to live like, out of a cardboard box. 2:52 It's entirely possible to do beautiful new things, 2:56 to have great experiences, and to own some stuff. 3:00 But you have to do it in a way that kind of scales back somewhere else. 3:03 For example, I don't technically own a car right now. 3:07 I will at some point need to, but I don't technically own one right now. 3:10 Am I able to go travel and do lots of cool things on the weekends? 3:14 Heck yeah, I am. 3:16 And that's awesome. 3:17 Who doesn't love that. 3:18 I have amazing shoes that I've purchased. 3:20 And I wept over it because they were so 3:22 expensive I didn't think I deserved to buy them. 3:23 But in reality, it looks like my purse has been run over 3:26 by a car a few times, because it actually has, true story. 3:28 So, it's okay to scale up over time, and it's 3:33 okay to indulge yourself, and it's okay that as a professional, 3:35 and as someone who is, like, not only a person 3:39 but a business, it's okay to treat yourself every so often. 3:42 [LAUGH] It's not a problem. 3:46 And in fact, part of living realistically for me, was also using 3:48 materials when starting this new aspect of my business doing food type. 3:52 I started it with found things, with things I actually owned. 3:56 Oh, that's weird that's not a slide. 3:59 There it is! 4:01 Ha! 4:02 I started with things that I owned in my house. 4:03 With stuff that. 4:06 I had available and I could get on the cheap 4:08 and because I wanted to explore and because I wanted 4:10 to do new things, and because at the time I 4:11 was very, very broke, it was the obvious thing to do. 4:13 Now a little bit of background on my work. 4:16 Essentially, I started doing food type as an escape from what was my current life. 4:19 Which was trying desperately, desperately hard to come up 4:25 with new ideas and make my work multi experiential. 4:28 I've found that my work was lacking a lot 4:32 of substance and it was lacking a lot of interest. 4:34 Because I was only working on the computer. 4:36 And that's not to say that computer work isn't interesting. 4:38 But for me, I felt like my work was flat. 4:41 Literally. 4:43 So in looking at these things I thought well, lots of other 4:45 people who are doing very successful 4:48 work online are using additional sensory experiences. 4:49 They're using weight. 4:52 Like FPO had an amazing festive show a couple of years ago where the person 4:54 who won had a, a bar in the book of rules for this giant corporation. 4:58 So you literally felt the gravitas. 5:04 Of what they were trying to tell you and 5:06 the ethics that they were sending out to different clients. 5:07 So, I think that's, that's such a fantastic thing because it, 5:11 it brings a different sensory experience and that's not just visual. 5:15 Because a lot of what we do in theory is visual, but there are 5:18 a lot of practical applications that still need to be made at the same time. 5:22 You'll see the same thing here. 5:26 This was a very smelly application, albeit fantastic to do. 5:28 And as I started to get more confident in what I was doing, 5:32 I was able to experiment, and to bring in more obvious forms of type. 5:34 This is based off of a [UNKNOWN] calligraphy style 5:38 that's used a lot in Arabic and Islamic type. 5:41 Styles and synagogues sorry mosques, so I was trying to refine my work 5:45 and make it more interesting while still using things that I had readily 5:51 available and as my business was growing I got to bump it up 5:54 to shaving cream wow, that's such an 5:57 investment because it's really hard to use. 6:00 I went through like 6 cans so that took forever. 6:03 But at the same time it was such a rich and rewarding experience of 6:06 course I don't own any of those props because its part of living realistically. 6:10 I realized I had to source it from a lot of different people. 6:13 I worked with local barber shops. 6:16 I've worked with local bakeries. 6:18 I've worked with all sorts of different people trying to get. 6:20 Crafts and things that I don't currently own. 6:23 I'm trying to pick up extra croppings from different people. 6:25 I go to thrift stores all the time and find just that 6:30 cute little spoon that you're like what is that gonna be used for? 6:32 Well, I'm gonna use it. 6:35 So, I think it's important that at any point, if you can barter, steal or gather. 6:36 Respectfully. 6:41 To increase your business you should absolutely 6:43 and totally do it and it's very manageable. 6:45 It's so easy. 6:48 So part of living realistically essentially, is 6:49 knowing what your limits are, knowing how 6:52 to circumnavigate your circumstances and also realizing 6:54 that everybody around you has these similar circumstances. 6:58 Nobody is just born with a silver spoon 7:01 and then amounts to greatness because within even 7:03 that kind of lifestyle is an expectancy and 7:06 an expectancy of a consistent life lifestyle I guess. 7:10 Now as part of this in saying that we all deal with these things. 7:15 One very controversial thing to talk about is debt. 7:18 I firmly believe that when starting your own freelance gig, debt isn't necessary. 7:21 I think you can honestly avoid it at 7:25 all costs, if you're doing incremental growth properly. 7:27 Again, for example, upgrading your equipment, it's 7:31 not necessary to do that right away. 7:35 I know of a couple friends who wanted to start a business. 7:38 << They became a very successful silk screening studio out of upper Ohio. 7:40 The problem the faced initially was how are we going to 7:45 start our business, we'll get a giant loan, a bunch of laptops. 7:48 We'll get very nice laptops and giant like computers, and one of the guys was 7:53 very insistent that they keep there stuff 7:57 from school that was in perfect working order. 8:00 And in fact, that was the right thing for them to do. 8:02 And they were able to grow really, really well. 8:04 Really fast. 8:06 So, I think that for, for us and for me, I've 8:07 realized that debt as a, as a freelancer is super crippling. 8:11 There is nothing worse than having to make, like, an $800 payment a month 8:15 and then have to choose whether or not, you're gonna like skip on your rent. 8:19 Or you're gonna eat. 8:22 That sucks. 8:23 So, most of us already have mountainous debt that we've amassed from 8:24 going to school, where we learned to be creative and follow our dreams. 8:28 So, it would make sense that if we're gonna continue to follow our dreams, 8:32 that we continue to chop down the amount of debt that currently presides over us. 8:35 Because, when you don't have a lot of debt, it enables you 8:39 to take on jobs that you really, really love and it allows 8:42 you to say eh, no thanks, bye to jobs that don't sound 8:45 as appealing or you know from the get go are not gonna work. 8:47 It gives you a freedom to press past 8:51 what you're currently doing and to explore new things. 8:54 Like for me obviously, food is a very easy and readily available thing but I've also 8:56 been working in for example piano parts as of late on a project for a pianist 9:02 based out of Toronto and with him I had to go source the piano and we 9:08 tell you piano parts even though they are 9:13 rotting and thrown away are not always the cheapest. 9:14 But at the same time, beating up a piano is fun and 9:18 the fact that I have done some cool work and that I 9:21 am trying to eliminate my debt and taking care of myself gave 9:23 me the time to go beat up a piano with a sledgehammer. 9:26 Who doesn't love that, that's so cool. 9:28 I want to do that every day, but it's really hard so maybe not. 9:30 But essentially part of ,part of keeping an eyeball on your debt. 9:35 Is also and I'm sorry I know that talking about debt feels really uncomfortable 9:39 but the reality is again we all have it and it's not something that 9:43 we need to propel into our business as far as, a as far as a like personal 9:46 debt that's hard enough so amassing further life debt in a business. 9:51 That, that's not very helpful to anybody. 9:57 You don't want to keep accumulating. 10:00 So, part of dealing with debt, is kind of 10:02 knowing where the cheddar goes, before you eat it all. 10:05 I think, Shawn McCabe had a very interesting post 10:08 on his blog recently about, the amazing success he had 10:10 with offering some new classes and just the overwhelming response, 10:14 and him actually knowing where his money went before he. 10:17 Had it all because if you don't where it's going, of course, your imagination's gonna 10:21 run wild and you're gonna spend 15, like over 15% more of what you actually made. 10:24 So like, I've been told in the past that people have an 10:30 imagination that is like 115% higher than what they're actually living at. 10:35 So, you'll constantly amass this feeling of needing more and needing more. 10:40 But if you can have some sort of idea of 10:43 where your money should go, and that could mean budget. 10:45 Or it could mean just percentages through your projects. 10:48 It could give you a much easier understanding of how 10:51 to then grow your business or just to do something fun. 10:53 Also I, I have to do that. 10:57 I'm sorry. 10:58 Cheddar. 11:00 Anyway, essentially, I feel it's very important that when you're looking at. 11:01 at breaking down a job once you have a fat 11:05 stack of money, you have to decide where it all goes. 11:07 For me, a small percentage immediately goes to my agent. 11:11 A small percentage goes to the government. 11:14 A small percentage goes to church. 11:16 And the rest of it is to me. 11:18 And I can determine where, how I'm going to segment that 11:19 which right now the vast chunk of it almost 70 to 11:23 90% of the money that I make goes to paying off 11:26 my student debt, and the rest of it goes to me. 11:29 But the beauty of having this and doing this this 11:32 way is that I've learned that I can take about. 11:35 .05 to a percent of smaller jobs, like under $3,000. 11:38 Well, no, its over $3,000 that I can take a percentage of that. 11:43 And its under $3,000 that I'll take around 15% And use that to treat myself. 11:49 Treat yourself 2014, best of the year. 11:56 It is. 12:00 Cuz then you can look at that thing you've always wanted, and go for it. 12:01 You save up for it, you're a responsible human being, and you make it happen. 12:04 There's nothing more exciting than being the kind of person that 12:08 is empowered in your business to not only grow, but how. 12:11 How to expand that into your lifestyle. 12:15 It's so important to be focused in your money, which is really 12:18 tough because as creatives we don't want to be bothered with the numbers. 12:21 But doing the excessive part, the invoicing, the billing, and again the 12:25 budgeting is how we like elevate the backbone of our own business. 12:30 So, I would encourage everybody to consider that very strongly. 12:34 It's one of the best things you can possibly do for yourself. 12:37 Now, more importantly, I would like to get into some discussion about, 12:40 like, how [UNKNOWN] should look at 12:43 themselves specifically when they're handling money. 12:45 Before you get these fat stacks of cash, you 12:47 have to be able to garner that with your work. 12:50 And one of the hardest parts is really setting yourself 12:52 up for success, to have a wonderful and healthy business. 12:55 I think that more creatives personally, should be 12:59 setting themselves up as a product versus a service. 13:01 In art school, I think a lot of people 13:05 are taught that they should be setting themselves up. 13:08 To kind of be a specialty person or to 13:10 be a tradesman and they they're more like a plumber. 13:13 They come in and they do what they need to do 13:16 and sometimes they have to bend over a table to do that. 13:18 Nobody likes being bent over a table by a bad client especially. 13:21 That's awful and I think that sometimes when people get out of 13:24 school they almost expect themselves to be a like a fine artist. 13:28 They think they're going to make prints they're going to make. 13:31 posters. 13:34 They're going to do whatever it is and 13:34 that's how they're going to substantiate the rest 13:36 of their lives, when in reality, that's not 13:37 how most people substantiate the rest of their lives. 13:40 So, how essentially do we make 13:43 the distinction between product versus service? 13:45 For example, I had a friend recently who was 13:47 invited to participate in a design feature that I had 13:49 of my house, my tiny little like 500 foot shoebox 13:53 and I asked her to put a painting in it. 13:57 And she looked at my work or my, my house and she looked at her work and she 14:00 Photoshopped several pieces up and realized, oh my gosh, 14:04 I've never pictured my work in someone's house before. 14:07 And I thought that was so odd because that was initially the point of her business. 14:10 So essentially, I think that artists should 14:15 distinguish themselves as having some sort of. 14:17 Like the art isn't, is not just the point. 14:21 The art is the expression of your creativity, 14:24 but it should belong to many different vehicles. 14:27 Even with web people. 14:30 Like, having a purpose for your website. 14:31 Even if it's something as simple as the like, is it raining app or how do. 14:33 How does caps lock work on the new iOS seven. 14:38 People need to know information like that as base 14:40 as that is and it can be really entertaining. 14:43 Its sharable. 14:45 Its fun. 14:46 It can it can work for you. 14:47 I think that as well within a product 14:49 its important to have offerings at different levels. 14:52 For a lot of people it's like, oh, I'm just gonna put out posters. 14:56 They'll be like 20 bucks and it'll be amazing, but that's 14:59 not a good way to life substantiate unless you're super popular. 15:01 So, it makes sense that you should offer things at 15:04 different levels and for me, I offer ads to clients. 15:06 So, I do like editorials and advertising at a very high rate for larger companies. 15:11 And then I do some mid-size here and there. 15:16 Usually they're, like, replicate my logo type things. 15:19 And something that I'm working on right now, for the individual designer 15:21 person, that just loves my work, I'm trying to put together prints. 15:25 I think its important to hit all those tiers 15:28 and especially when budgeting out and, and pricing jobs 15:30 for people, its very important if you're not doing 15:33 it already to offer, like, various amount of money. 15:35 Different tiers of service, and to allow people to, to choose from those. 15:39 I know, initially starting out as a designer, I did not know that. 15:44 I just put a number out there and went, kay do you like it? 15:47 And then, of course, when they ran away, I went, God, why did they run away? 15:49 Why do they always leave me? 15:52 And unfortunately, that's the reality is 15:55 that people want the opportunity to choose. 15:57 And if you're not going to meet them at exactly the place where they 16:00 are willing to work with you, with their expectations, then they're gonna run away. 16:02 As part of being a product, you're also considered, like, a master of your craft. 16:07 People are coming to you for expertise. 16:12 For example, if you're going to go buy pillows, for example, from Ikea. 16:14 You're gonna go there, and if you don't have enough money for three pillows. 16:19 Even though you want three pillows, you're only gonna get two. 16:22 And if you still insist that you want three pillows, then they're gonna 16:24 point you to the bargain bin and go get your three pillows and go. 16:27 Because as a product based service, someone 16:31 is not gonna come and haggle with you. 16:34 They're not gonna try to finagle you into. 16:35 Diminishing some of your services and diminishing some of your value. 16:38 In order to get everything that they want. 16:42 So, I think it's important to be empowered. 16:44 In what you think you're offering to someone. 16:47 To be empowered in the prices that you're sharing. 16:50 And to understand that when someone says that they 16:53 can't afford you, you should negotiate and work with them. 16:55 It's important to be extremely flexible. 16:58 And I don't think people realize that 17:00 flexibility doesn't mean, yes, I will, I will 17:01 decrease the amount of money that I'm willing, I'm willing to take on this job. 17:06 It actually means, I need to decrease some of my service. 17:09 And scale everything so that you're happy and I'm happy. 17:12 So, we have this beautiful idea of being someone who's an expert. 17:16 Who is being and noted for the kind of work that they 17:21 love to do versus someone who is just kind of doing whatever. 17:24 They're offering a service which means they could do anything from identities to. 17:28 Promos and collateral and websites and whatever, which 17:33 makes your work feel cheaper, to something that 17:37 is slightly more specialized, but at the same 17:40 time, it has a value because of its specificity. 17:43 Secondarily, I like the idea of accepting all forms of capital. 17:47 I think that a lot of times as well when you get 17:54 out of school you are taught that you should just look at the 17:56 dollars because if you want to make a go at this you 18:00 need to be able to eat and being able to eat is great. 18:02 Everybody loves that but at the same time there are 18:04 more ways to make money than just through monetary capital. 18:07 So in my experience, I've noted that there are three different 18:11 times, you have monetary, you have social, and you have emotional. 18:13 Monetary capital is kind of like that Parks and Recreation scene where Tom 18:17 Haverford is like, here you go guys from Venezuela, here are your candy bars. 18:22 I have been your slave boy all day. 18:26 But then he's like, whoo, money, I got to pick this up. 18:28 He, he puts himself through this long string of embarrassment 18:31 just so he's able to, like, cash out at the end. 18:34 Ans that's how sometimes monetary jobs are. 18:37 And depending on who you're working with, sometimes it's the bigger guys. 18:40 Or sometimes it's just someone in a smaller, a smaller company 18:43 that doesn't know how to let go of their money very well. 18:46 You can run into these jobs that are just painful to do. 18:49 But at the same time, they're gonna pay your bills. 18:51 Everybody to some extent has monetary capital driving them 18:53 and the idea is as you get more involved in 18:57 your business and as you grow to scale that 19:00 number back so that it's smaller and smaller and smaller. 19:02 If you're really lucky, you have very little of it at all. 19:05 It's just good jobs with good money driving you. 19:09 Secondarily, a social capital is, is huge. 19:12 For example, this job that I did at Target, my very first 19:15 food type, like large company job, with the notable Alan Peters down here. 19:19 He and I were trying to reach an agreement with 19:24 what we wanted to work on as far as budget. 19:27 They had a certain amount of money available, and I wanted a little bit more. 19:30 But he came back to me with this beautiful concept of a video where they flew me out. 19:34 They, like, interviewed me. 19:38 They made me look so good and that's amazing because I was 19:40 so sick for the parts where they were actually talking to me. 19:43 I was gonna puke the whole time, and they made me look beautiful. 19:45 I could never have achieved that level of photoshopping. 19:48 I could never have achieved that level of 19:51 social reach that they had by sharing that. 19:55 And that video has carried over, and over, and over again certain parts of my career. 19:58 And I'm so thankful to that. 20:02 But I encourage you to tread carefully on the idea of social capital. 20:03 If someone does not have the background, like Target, 20:08 to back up their claim that this will be socially. 20:11 Beneficial to you, very strongly consider not doing it. 20:14 [LAUGH] It's very easy for someone to go, Oh man 20:18 that looks so good in your portfolio, oh it'll get around 20:21 to everybody in town and everybody who does like plumbing will 20:23 just, they'll know that you're the person who did my logo. 20:26 You're like great I, I wanna do a thousand 20:28 plumbing logos, yes, you're right, thank you so much. 20:31 You have to be so careful. 20:35 So, just know that while social things are 20:37 amazing and beneficial and they make people smile and 20:39 they're authentic and beautiful, that you have to be 20:41 very careful with who you work when doing those. 20:44 Secondarily, or tertiarily, pardon me. 20:48 Is emotional capital. 20:50 Emotional capital is the kind of job that makes you just feel good in your soul. 20:52 It gets viscerally into you, and it just makes you feel alive. 20:57 But of course, it's no money. 21:01 [LAUGH] It's almost always that way. 21:02 But it's such a beautiful and fun thing. 21:05 And for me, that was this project here with Portfolio Creative. 21:07 They had asked me to do their quarterly calendar. 21:11 Their company in Columbus Ohio where I come from. 21:13 Columbus Ohio, Columbastwood? 21:16 Anyway, but they they had spoken with me and wanted me to 21:18 do quarterly calendar during the holidays and I thought that's super convenient. 21:22 Of course I'd love to do that that would be amazing. 21:26 So I sign up. 21:29 And I realize I have to buy all the supplies myself. 21:31 And I have to shoot it all myself. 21:33 And I have to retouch it all myself. 21:34 And I have to compile everything to make this calendar all by myself. 21:36 So, bad on me for not getting my expectations better. 21:39 But this project was so much fun. 21:42 I got to play with mashed potatoes, which, by the way, you 21:45 should never make mashed potatoes out of instant mashed potatoes with almond milk. 21:47 That is the most disgusting smell in the entire world. 21:51 I was not remotely thankful for that at all. 21:53 And that was super ironic because it was November. 21:55 But, this piece, I then, because it was still free. 21:59 We worked out a deal where I was going to be 22:03 able to like do some sort of iPhone wallpapers and desktops. 22:04 And this is my by far, one of my most passed around images that I've done. 22:09 I was shocked. 22:12 Even people from other countries, all about this. 22:13 they don't celebrate Thanksgiving. 22:16 What? 22:17 That doesn't make any sense. 22:18 [SOUND] But it was such a great project. 22:19 And it was a great way to learn them and to, like, experience 22:21 the beauty of doing something almost out of the goodness of your heart. 22:25 And then seeing the impact that it has. 22:29 I would also caution you as well if you are working in 22:31 this form of capital too much it's going to affect your business. 22:33 So, realize that if you are doing a lot of favors for people, that 22:37 likely, you need to step it up on the monetary end to compensate for that. 22:40 I'm usually feeling really warm and fuzzy after I get a nice big job done. 22:44 And so, I will take on several of these because I want to give back to people. 22:48 But I found that if I'm not careful about that, 22:52 I'll end up working for free, or very close to 22:55 free, because the money gets eaten up right away if 22:58 a logo is like 200 bucks, that's not going anywhere. 23:00 I then start to feel resentment and you never ever wanna 23:03 be in a position where you feel resentment against your clients. 23:06 Your clients are your mainstays and 23:08 they're your partners and they're your friends. 23:10 So be very careful as well with this one, but know that when 23:12 you do take these on they are going to make you excessively happy. 23:15 Now, I want to get back just briefly to the idea 23:19 of accepting all forms of capital because I feel like it's 23:22 important to talk about numbers, and I am not going to 23:26 be super super specific with them because they vary greatly and. 23:28 It just depends on where you live. 23:33 It depends on if you've got usage fees. 23:34 It depends on if it's an all-day shoot. 23:36 Whatever, whatever your medium is that you're working in, but I will 23:38 say that it's entirely necessary to make at least $100 a day. 23:42 That is base line starting, okay? 23:46 So new designers, if you are making $100 a day. 23:49 You can probably feed yourself. 23:53 That's really great. 23:54 ideally, most jobs start out between $1 and $3,000, 23:56 depending on what the circumstances are and that's fairly safe 23:59 for, small web design, that's fairly safe for logos, 24:02 and that's fairly safe for lettering, letterheads, what I do. 24:07 Day rates for photographers are somewhere between like. 24:11 1,000 to 1,200 and again this depends where where you and where you live in 24:13 the country and how much else your expecting 24:19 to do with your project but it's super 24:22 important to note that if you feel like 24:23 your getting to a place where your uncomfortable 24:26 with how much money your investing or how much your giving to someone for a price. 24:29 Know, that if you can break it down by day and kind of look at almost a day rate 24:34 idea instead of an hourly idea, it should give you 24:38 a better understanding of whether or not it's actually fair. 24:41 Which to my next point is, it's super 24:44 important to make emotional decisions when you're pricing things. 24:46 And to that I want to clarify, emotional decisions 24:49 do not mean like, oh, my God, whatever you say. 24:53 That sounds amazing. 24:54 Fifty question marks and explanation points. 24:56 That's not it at all. 24:59 We've learned recently with science that emotions are shortcuts to 25:00 logical paths and data processing that you've accumulated over time. 25:03 So, ideally the emotion is supposed to give you 25:07 some sort of like a shortcut to overthinking your process. 25:09 So, essentially you want to, when you're looking at budgeting, for me 25:13 at least, budgeting, pricing when you look at pricing for me at least. 25:16 Its important to realize OKAY, this is this is like 2000 dollars. 25:21 Do I feel comfortable receiving 2000 dollars for this piece? 25:26 Is the client amiable? 25:29 Is the process going smoothly from the get go? 25:31 Do I think its going to end on time? 25:33 How likely is it that we're going to 25:35 have snares or something going terribly terribly wrong? 25:37 In which case I will decide that I can probably afford to ask more than that. 25:39 If I am like these people are amazing and everything 25:43 is going swimmingly, this is going to be so wonderful. 25:46 I can do lower than that, that's fair. 25:51 I think in those ways it is okay to flexible 25:53 and it is okay to be emotional there I think that. 25:56 A lot of times, when I look at again, how I'm, 25:59 how I'm budgeting for an example, I do it somewhat emotionally. 26:02 Yes, I know my numbers. 26:06 Yes, I know where my stuff is but I think if 26:07 I were to have something crazy happen right now, how does 26:10 that feel to me and because I can sit down and 26:13 go, well, if my computer completely blew up, I would be devastated. 26:15 I know to keep around $2-3000. 26:19 In a personal savings account but also in like my business savings account. 26:21 So technically, I have two. 26:25 And whenever something starts to go awry like say, this 26:27 part where I had to buy a new computer or I 26:30 have to fly somewhere to do a job, I have some 26:31 money on me at all times, and I'm not freaking out. 26:34 Essentially, people go into debt, again debt, because 26:37 they don't prepare themselves for these sort of times. 26:41 And I don't know about you but I can usually feel one of these coming on. 26:44 I'll be like god I have been on the airplane 26:47 in awhile and then I'll get a call for a job. 26:50 It's the weirdest, weirdest thing. 26:52 And, I'm always so thankful that I have some sort of backup in place. 26:54 And it just, it's so odd because money itself is a very emotional thing. 26:57 It requires a lot of frustration and anxiety and planning from us 27:03 in a lot ways or you could be totally loosey goosey with it. 27:08 But that, that drive and the pointedness of 27:10 it causes us to very much act irrationally. 27:15 I don't think we need to act in such a way that our 27:18 emotions cannot, cannot help us to make better decisions if that make sense 27:21 and I'm thinking like when I think about being emotional I think about the 27:27 amount of effort that I give to god sorry I lost my thought. 27:33 [Laugh] Sorry, 27:37 I think about how important it is to be processing 27:41 though my money with determination, but also at the same 27:45 time giving some sharing with other people, allowing myself to 27:49 treat myself a little bit, allowing myself to enjoy my life. 27:53 Because when you're running a business, it's very easy to sit in the dregs 27:58 and to work long hours and to not actually go out and experience yourself. 28:02 Not go out and experience life with friends. 28:07 Not put yourself in a position to be happy and joyous. 28:09 And I think that when you're making these kinda decisions with your money. 28:13 You should very much err on the side of being 28:16 cautious, only because it can benefit you in the long run. 28:18 But I think, generally, it helps, too, to be excited 28:21 and to share and to spend just a tiny little bit. 28:24 So with these things, I would offer you that as creatives it's, it's often. 28:28 Us thinking that oh, man if I could just 28:35 get into a situation where I can only create. 28:37 If I can just get into a situation, where 28:40 someone can take care of all these situations for me 28:42 If I can just find an agent so I don't 28:44 have to look for things anymore, then I'll be set. 28:47 In reality, that's not how, having your own freelance business works. 28:50 It has nothing to do with that. 28:54 And you have to, you have to do paperwork. 28:56 You have to think about where your money goes. 28:59 You have to be looking for the next job. 29:01 And by doing those things, you can 29:03 essentially empower yourself to be more thought out. 29:04 You can empower yourself to have a longer, like, broader career. 29:08 And you can help yourself to. 29:12 Think and act more capably with the knowledge that you 29:15 have and the success that you have with your finances. 29:18 So, I would encourage you to get cracking essentially, to get started 29:21 on something new and to decide to do it today if you can. 29:24 Here is some wonderful resources. 29:27 I love Jessica Heche and Businessology has 29:29 wonderful, wonderful things to say about value pricing. 29:32 And I feel like, they have covered that so 29:35 beautifully that I don't have to within this discussion. 29:37 Ethical pricing and, and hand guide, or guidelines handbook. 29:40 That one, it's an industry standard, and as I 29:43 found out, America is very special in this way. 29:46 We are one of the few countries that has standards like this, put together. 29:49 So, rejoice in the fact that you have numbers to go by on almost anything. 29:53 Particularly for me with lettering those 29:59 numbers have expounded even since last year. 30:01 It's like two or three pages worth of stuff and it's very accurate. 30:04 I would also encourage you to look at Dave Ramsey, 30:08 this guy has all sorts of wonderful, brilliant things to say 30:10 about budgeting and strategic planning and all sorts of really 30:13 great tools for that, and if you have any questions about. 30:17 Again, the idea of conic versus service, 30:21 or emotional versus like capitals, please email me. 30:23 I would absolutely delight in that. 30:28 So hopefully, going to be really smug right now, and encourage 30:30 you to come find me on any of these wonderful social medias. 30:33 And of course, feel free to ask any questions. 30:36 I would be happy to take any. 30:39 Thank you guys so much. 30:40 [SOUND] 30:42