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You want nothing more than to focus on your artistic career. You do not want
un-necessary distractions. You certainly do not have time to start your own
business. After all, you need to focus your energy on your artistic business.
The question is WHAT energy? Do you really have the energy left after waiting
tables half the night to then go into an audition and perform well the next day?
Did you even have the choice of whether you worked that evening or not?
There is no way I am going to sit here and tell you that it is easy to start and
run your own business. There is a lot of hard work involved. However, the
payoffs are immense. Why? Because you are your own boss and that makes all the
difference in the world. No matter what job you are working, who makes the real
money? The boss. Who decides if and when to give you a raise? The boss. Who
decides when you are going to work? The boss. Who decides if and when you get a
vacation? The boss. Who decides whether or not you get to keep your job? The
boss. Now tell me this. Why wouldn’t you want to be the boss? Then you will make
the real money, be able to give yourself a raise any time you want, schedule
your work anytime you want (which means around the needs of your artistic
career), and have the security of knowing no one can fire you.
Are you convinced yet? You have too many things to juggle as an artist to try to
convince someone else to alter your work schedule. You need maximum flexibility
and, unfortunately, your job will very likely not have the amount of flexibility
for which you are looking. If you work nights, you are probably too tired to
work on your artistic career during the day. If you work days – you worry about
missing appointments, auditions, etc. Artists have so many things they have to
juggle. Serious pursuit of an artistic career can constitute a full time job in
itself.
Having your own work at home business will always provide you with a greater opportunity to
earn more money simply by virtue of the fact that you will be the boss. However,
there are also significant tax benefits to owning your own business, which
allows you to KEEP more of the money that you earn. Let’s take a very simple
example. Let’s say that you have a job that pays you a salary of $15,000 per
year. Subtract the 30% you will pay in taxes ($4,500). Now assume that you
travel 10 miles per day getting to and from work ($750). If you spend around $5
per day on lunch that will total $1,250 and people with jobs tend to spend more
money in general eating out, so let’s add another $1,000 in food expenses for
the year. Without even factoring in things like special work clothes, day care
(if you have children), etc… you are already at a net take home pay of only
$7,500. That’s 50% of your earnings! (Next time you are looking at a part time
job – divide the salary offered by 50% and see how excited you are about taking
it!)
Now, what if you earned that same $15,000 in a home based business? Before
paying taxes, you would get to subtract your deductible expenses. If you drove
the same amount as with the job – only to and from business meetings – that
would be the same $750. Suppose you spent more on meals - $10 per day (2,500) –
but these were all business lunches which would mean you could deduct 50% or
(1,250). Even if all of your other legal deductions only added up to another
$1,000 (businesses allow for numerous deductions: home office, some
entertainment, supplies, travel, education, etc.) You would have a total of
$3,000 in deductible expenses (car + lunches + other) and would therefore only
be taxed on $12,000 earnings. The self employment tax is only 15% ($1,800). Now,
subtract the remaining $1,250 (the portion of your lunches that were not
deductible) and you are left taking home $9,950.00. That amounts to 25% more
money AND you work for yourself! Obviously I have simplified this and you would
definitely consult with an accountant when handling your business taxes, but
this will certainly give you something to think about!
Do you want another benefit to being an entrepreneur? Yes, there is more! Don’t
forget that your artistic career is also a business and has to be run like one
if you want to be successful. What better way to hone your skills than by
building a part-time, side enterprise and making money at the same time?
You may be thinking, doesn’t it cost a lot of money to start a business and
doesn’t it take a long time to begin making money? Not necessarily. It depends
on what type of a business you decide to run. For instance, if you have good
writing skills, you could work as a part-time freelance writer. Do you type?
Start a secretarial service. Substitute teach? Consider a tutoring company. For
each of these examples (and there are countless more), you will put very little
money down and you can begin to make money almost immediately. The internet is
also loaded with business opportunities (although you would be wise to do your
research so that you can distinguish the scams from the real money-makers).
All in all, running your own business is going to be far more rewarding than
working for someone else. You will have all the advantages listed above and you
will have the satisfaction of seeing something you created grow and develop.
Even when your artistic career takes off your business can be a nice side
income. When you work in a job you do not like, it will sap your energy. This is
energy you could put into the development of your artistic career as well as
building a business that is of real benefit to you. You will also be far
happier. So go for it! What have you got to lose?
Adam Martin is an active Assistant Director (most recently on "Transformers", to
be released summer 07), Producer and Director based in Hollywood. With his wife,
Miata, he also started Abundance Bound, Inc, (Abundance
Bound - Financial Education and Planning for Actors & Artists) and their
mission is to develop a community of artists able to pursue their creative goals
free from the crushing weight of financial stress. Adam and Miata are coached by
Loral Langmeier, author of the best-seller "The Millionaire Maker", and apply
what they learn with her to their clients within the artistic community.
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