Rock ‘n’ Roll finances
Control your art, control your money. Plus, upcoming events: Making Freelancing Pay
Hiya 🤗
Quick update from this week’s Office Hours call - I’m doing these monthly for paid subscribers so I can see your faces and hear what you’ve been up to :)
As always, lovely to chat with Phil Sutcliffe, our former branch treasurer. A lifetime in music journalism and 56 years NUJ membership so knows his onions. He co-created a course on Negotiation & how to get paid more for your work and has so many rock ‘n’ roll stories to tell…
Like the time he interviewed Sting in a New York hotel room and heard his new song (Sting’s accountant popped in for a chat - there’s a story about that).
How Led Zeppelin tried to use a Shakespearian theatre charity to avoid paying tax – and other creative business lessons from Peter Grant [LedZepNews].
Control your art, control your money… Taylor Swift is a fan!
In November, we heard from Eric Longley, ‘accountant to the stars’ (he did the books for Eric Clapton & Paul McCartney) and financial advisor Ion Tsakalis - tips on how to hang onto whatever you earn as much as possible. [Freelance].
I loved Eric’s perspective on paying tax:
“It's a privilege to pay tax. It means you're earning money. It also means you're helping other people.”
Ion is down the road in Hove and taking on new clients apparently so I might give him a ring and see what I can do. I have two pensions (need to get them both in my Nest egg), but I’m not saving enough to fund my Unretirement. Learn more about low risk investing (I’m avoiding crypto).
I’m helping Julieta through uni (hope they bring the grants back) so how to minimise student debt and save more. In Sept, she’ll be paying £800/mo for a room in a houseshare with five mates - and they can’t even view the property. Someone’s raking it in.
🎪 Making Freelancing Pay
We’re planning a ‘Making Freelancing Pay’ day in May – part-careers fest / part networking and have invited Eric back to run a surgery. In London and open to all. Working on programming and will share more deets soon.
Phil also said he’d be happy to do a session for us on the art of negotiation. Leave a comment or email me if you’re interested and I’ll sort a date. Be useful. I’m launching a signature service this year (trying to AI proof myself), so deciding what to charge for this.
Let’s start the year strong - set some ambitious money goals and get ahead for Making Tax Digital (a load more admin for us all).
📚 99 problems but a book ain’t one
I’m enjoying Amy Suto’s: Write for Money and Power: The Anti Starving Artist’s Guide to Becoming a Seven-Figure Writer. Fully on board with the trifecta – paid newsletter, self-published books and luxury ghostwriting for a well-paid creative career. Whole chapter on mindset – agree there’s no ceiling only the one you set for yourself.
I love that she’s got the balls to charge $750/hour for freelance work and six figures for memoir ghostwriting. I’ve also enjoyed watching ✍️ Make Writing Your Job evolve and grow - they now have a team and pay writers.
Nika
PS Next Office Hours is on 26 February, 1-2 pm BST on Zoom and in the comments. If you have something to share - published work, a win, upcoming event - send me the link. You can register here.
Thanks so much for the shoutout, Nika! I'm glad you're enjoying the book :)