0:00 today I want to talk about how we can
0:01 take control over our finances in such
0:04 an unpredictable career field like the
0:06 music industry before we begin I want to
0:09 make it clear that this isn't a get-rich
0:11 quick scheme I'm not claiming to have an
0:13 abundance of money and there's nothing
0:15 monetary that I gained from making this
0:17 video not even through AdSense and the
0:19 things that I've learned running my
0:21 business as an audio engineer and a
0:22 Studio owner took me from maxed out
0:25 credit cards and skipping meals to
0:27 having more control over my finances and
0:29 better understanding the ups and downs
0:31 of having a business and being an audio
0:33 engineer and most importantly I wish I
0:35 knew the all 6 years ago when I first
0:37 started my business and that I didn't
0:39 have to learn it the hard way which is
0:41 why I want to share it with you today
0:44 and so let's talk about the elephant in
0:45 the room having a career in the music
0:48 industry is hard it's different and you
0:51 need to approach it differently than
0:53 your traditional career often even for
0:56 seasoned mixing Engineers the biggest
0:57 names out there they're going to have
1:00 months of intense work followed by
1:02 months of little to no work and that
1:04 unpredictability is what keeps people
1:06 away from creating sustaining a career
1:08 in the music industry by understanding
1:10 unpredictability we can start to create
1:12 a career for ourselves being audio
1:14 Engineers or owning our own
1:17 Studios understanding unpredictability
1:19 can be broken down into Three Steps step
1:22 one would be to dissolve the idea that
1:25 we have a monthly income the amount of
1:27 money you bring in each month needs to
1:29 last you and until the next client comes
1:31 in and the email to start your next
1:33 project could come in tonight or could
1:35 come in 6 months from now and we need to
1:37 be prepared for that me personally when
1:40 I first started my studio I would make
1:42 however much I made each month pay all
1:44 my bills and the rest went to buying a
1:46 new piece of gear or just spending it
1:49 because traditional career paths give
1:51 you a fixed set of income each month or
1:54 often we're tempted to spend it each
1:55 month because we know the next month
1:57 that exact same amount of money is going
1:59 to come in
2:00 but if we apply that to our business the
2:02 whole thing falls apart so again we need
2:05 to dissolve the idea that we have a
2:07 monthly income and so now that we've
2:09 dissolved the idea that we have a
2:11 monthly income we need to minimize our
2:13 overhead and create a strict budget and
2:16 everybody's overhead and what they
2:18 choose to budget for is going to be
2:19 personal to themselves your ability to
2:22 minimize your budget is in direct
2:23 relation to your peace of mind and your
2:25 longevity in your career if you're
2:28 spending a lot and you have a large bu
2:29 budget each project isn't going to last
2:32 you as long as it could if you had a
2:33 smaller budget or less overhead and for
2:36 me personally in my life I advocate that
2:39 I minimize my overhead as much as
2:41 possible there's a lot of things that I
2:42 would give up just so I can run a studio
2:45 but equally when you're assessing uh
2:48 what is worth it in your budget what's
2:50 worth it in your overhead make sure to
2:52 incorporate things that bring you Joy in
2:53 your life for example I like to budget
2:56 that I can get a cup of coffee every
2:58 morning go to a nice cafe and just be
3:00 with my community and that brings me a
3:03 lot of joy and also running a studio
3:05 brings me a lot of joy and so I make
3:07 sure I prioritize those things and
3:09 there's other things in my life that I
3:10 choose not to prioritize because I want
3:13 to make sure that I can do this as long
3:15 as I can and for step three and now that
3:18 we have dissolved the idea of monthly
3:20 income and that we have created a budget
3:22 for ourselves we can take those two
3:24 numbers take how much money we have
3:27 divide it by our budget and now we can
3:29 see how long we have until we need our
3:31 next artist or client to come in and
3:35 through disciplining ourselves and
3:36 creating that budget we're able to
3:38 create predictability out of a career
3:41 that's often seen as pretty
3:43 unpredictable next I want to talk about
3:44 something I'm still working on but that
3:47 has had such a profound effect on how I
3:50 budget that I wanted to share with it
3:51 that I wanted to share that with you
3:53 today and that is creating
3:54 sustainability through the 10% rule we
3:58 all understand the ups and downs of
4:00 having a career as an audio engineer and
4:02 often months will fluctuate by more than
4:05 10% I'll put a graph on the screen of my
4:08 income this year and you'll see that
4:09 some months fluctuate by 50% and so
4:12 knowing that we know that if our income
4:14 was to change by 10% each month that
4:16 wouldn't necessarily make or break us we
4:19 may just need to budget a little bit
4:21 tighter and so we take that 10% off of
4:24 everything we make and we stash that
4:26 away somewhere preferably for me
4:28 somewhere that I don't see it when we
4:30 take that 10% off the top we're able to
4:32 start building a savings account an
4:35 account that we can use to buy gear
4:36 separate from our operating account
4:38 where all of our expenses and overhead
4:40 comes out of because for me personally
4:43 when I see money stack up in the
4:45 operating account it gets pretty
4:46 tempting to want to buy a new piece of
4:48 gear when in reality if I just let it
4:50 sit there that's months of piece of mind
4:52 that I have and so through taking that
4:55 10% off the top of everything I make and
4:58 stashing it away in a sep bank account
5:00 that I don't really see I'm starting to
5:02 build a emergency fund and then
5:04 eventually a fund for buying new
5:07 equipment that is completely separate
5:09 from my operating expenses and so when
5:12 we're budgeting and we're able to make
5:13 the gigs we get last for months and then
5:16 we're taking that 10% off and stashing
5:17 it away where we don't really see it and
5:20 we don't necessarily feel it coming out
5:22 of our bank accounts we're able to
5:23 create two layers of predictability
5:25 again out of something that's perceived
5:27 as unpredictable and unsustainable
5:30 and we're able to create a nice comfort
5:33 zone when we're running our business and
5:35 the less you're worried about paying
5:36 your rent the better you can run your
5:38 business the more time you can just
5:40 think about the thing that you love in
5:41 the first place and that's turning these
5:44 knobs compressing drums and making great
5:47 mixes thank you all for tuning in to
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