Here’s All of My Personal Finance Information… It’s Not Pretty. [Quest for Financial Freedom]

Yesterday I explained why I am rebooting my “Quest for Creative Financial Freedom” series.

Long story short: The first time I did this series, it was awesome... Then I got scared and stopped. This time I’m back for keeps. All of my personal finance information will be public and immutable on the blockchain.

Why the Hell Are You Putting Your Embarrassing Finances Online?

I’m doing this to show other musicians that the struggle is real for all of us. You aren’t alone.

Everybody is so busy trying to boost their personal brands - sharing photos backstage, new fancy music gear, hanging out with celebrities, whatever - and nobody wants to admit the truth: most of us are struggling.

Whenever I talk to a musician friend, it’s a lot of angst. “Things are going well… but damn, I can barely pay my rent.”

Let’s move past this bullshit and be honest with each other. Let’s build new avenues to earn real money and support each other. Starting from a place of honesty, we can contribute much more and feel less alone in the process of surviving as artists.

Very few artists earn good money in their 20’s. The vast majority struggle to put food on the table. Let’s stop bullshitting each other, ok?!

Here’s my Financial Info

OK, fuck it, here it is. I am in bad shape right now. This is one of the worst financial moments of my life. No point beating around the bush about it.

ASSETS:

Checking Account #1: $0
Checking Account #2: $15
Checking Account #3: $0
Steem Liquid Wallet: $0

Savings Account #1: $10
Steem Power: 1,550 SP // ~$1,400
Short-Term Savings (building up to pay off the short term loan at end of month - see below): $140

DEBTS:

Money Owed to my Dad: ~$12,000
PayPal Credit: $6,300 (I am a few months behind on this payment which doesnt help)
Short Term Steem Loan: $600 due on Nov 30

This is Bad ! ! !

I really do not want to share this information. This is really bad. I'm having a lot of stress right now about the idea that I will fall too far behind and end up in some kind of really terrible situation.. I'm on the financial edge.

Right now I am earning about $120 per week in steem and another $100-$150 in other freelance gigs, so I’m not making nearly enough. The problem is an income problem. The immediate urgent task is to increase the income up to about $500 per week.

How Did This Happen?

The obvious question is: How did I get in this situation?

I was earning about $2,000 per month in June 2017. Then things slowly dried up. I made the mistake of focusing more on steem, forgoing some of my other, less fun, writing gigs. Then the steem value tanked and I found myself not earning nearly enough.

At one point, I was earning great great money on steem. Earned more than $500 USD of steem in one week at my peak. Stuff like this felt normal:

In a world where I can earn $50+ per day on steem, achieving a baseline of financial stability is easier. That would be $1,500 per month, with some going towards SP.

However, today, I am earning more like $20 per day on steem. This is awesome, I am grateful as fuck for it. But it’s obviously not enough to be a significant part of my income. Worst of all, I made the huge mistake of neglecting my other income, going “all-in” on steem, but without any savings as a back-up. Now I need to recover and find basic financial stability.

I’m going to stop here before the post gets too long. Tomorrow I'll go into some detail on my emergency plan to get through this month / pay rent in December. Advice will be greatly appreciated lol.

After I get past this immediate emergency... then I can get into the real work to reclaim my financial security.

Thanks for reading, it means the world to me. Love you all.