Thank you so much for this! Last year I cried in my fiancee's arms that I would have to work my shitty accounting job for the rest of my life. This year I quit that job and have been making it work as a poet for10 months now. I call it "piece-mealing". Putting together all the different sources and saying a prayer it's enough haha. Your inspiration has been a huge part of having the courage to try. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Oh I feel you so hard on the accounting front. I did an accounting course, finished with honours, and when I sat down to do the job... Realized there's no chance I'm doing this the rest of my life. Hundreds of dollars down the tubes for something I don't even like.
Amie takes no prisoners. Or, serves them hot chocolate. Afterwards, they are prisoners no more.
Art is long, life is short. Having reassessed my personal priorities, I am looking at happiness this way:
1) Getting what I dream is not happiness.
2) Happiness is the way to getting what I desire.
Dreamers are not:
1) wafflers
2) self-deceiving
3) ego-tripping, frippy-dips needing a good slap of reality
4) time-wasters, boorish
All those time and love hoarders who told me I am wasting my time, or, worse, I am ONLY a dreamer, I can say, once I figure this out, like an oyster fashioning a pearl, I will thank you.
Thanks for the transparency, Amie. I love how you doing more than just writing fiction gives you a more stable income but also more creative freedom because there is less pressure for your novels to earn you your whole living. This is absolutely key. ❤️
The thing that makes it hard to beat the voices of doubt in our head is how we hear “keep this passion as a hobby” and we hear it from those who do or others who are mainly doing the practical field.
Yes, it is valid to do your passion as a hobby but we see writing, music, and art in products we own. Who else is going to make that if we all listen to “do this as a hobby”?
Thanks for your dedication to taking creatives with your Amie. I adore it every time you share something with us. I’ve learned so much from you. THANK YOU from my creative heart 💜
Love this Amy. As an independent full time artist I think I would’ve more or less answered the same when it comes to a majority of the questions…. Having multiple income streams, be flexible as to how they vary, fluctuating months, cry about taxes (it’s my area…. It’s fucking hard as we’ve been moving around a lot too so not a single accountant in sight who wants to support at a human price…. Oh well), and the absolute rage against everyone who says it isn’t possible. I’ve been traditional and self published, sell original art works and digital training…. It’s all a mashup of magic isn’t it. You go girl 💖
Thank you! I never thought about splitting things into revenue streams, and I appreciated your thoughts on what you monetize and what you don’t. (Because I am just starting out still and in the building phase slowly) I’d be interested to hear how you both did the research to set up your small business(es?). The finances bit is not my strong suit but a necessary part of it all. Thanks again and looking forward to continue following what you do!
We didn't stress too much about getting it perfect. We slowly cobbled together something that worked. At the beginning things should be simply enough that you can do most of it yourself. We still don't have a complicated corporate structure. In Australia, where we are tax resident, you can just operate a business as one or two individuals. It doesn't require any complicated setup. We may incorporate in the future but think it's easier to just run it as individuals for now.
If you're talking about taxes and payments, same thing. Find anything that works right now as long as it's legit. Stripe and Paypal are generally easy to set up.
For taxes, all our business related bank accounts just feed straight into Xero and whenever we get a receipt we just take a photo of it and send it to the app or, if it's an email invoice, forward it straight to Xero's receipt manager, Hubdock. We did this ourselves until about a year ago, including coding all the transactions into categories (travel, subscriptions etc.) but now the book keeper does it for us. I just double check their work at the end of the quarter.
This is great! As a writer with a working class background, I find the lack of conversation around money in the arts so frustrating, like it's some dirty little secret. There seems to be some weird culture that you shouldn't want money. I find this to be a very middle class arts idea (in the UK class system) But money has literally given me education, time and space to create. Of course I want money, of course I want my art. I want both. I recently ran some writing workshops in my local community and felt a lot of guilt charging money for it. But, I stuck with it because I know my time and ideas have value.
This was really lovely of you to share and immensely helpful. Thank you, and I'm hoping this turns into another 6 figure deal! Cheering you on from afar xx
Thank you so much for sharing this, Amie. Helpful to know how things are actually operating BTS. You and James have always been incredibly generous with this.
My question is: Has there been an income stream that you tried on for size but it didn’t work out and so you scrapped it? Or, has it been that whatever viable path you thought of/discovered, you’ve kept it around long enough until it ultimately became profitable?
This ties into my bigger question of: How long do you keep at something before saying ‘nope, nothing can be generated from here. Lets move on’?
Love this question Esha, we tried patreon and it DID NOT work for me. It was too much work, ontop of the huge amount of writing I was already providing for free. Plus, it made me around 30 bucks a month. We have chosen not to monetize our substack too for now, because we learnt last time. I had it for probably eight months?? Before I let it go. It's hard to know when to just scrap something. For me, the fact I really wasn't enjoying it was a good sign that it needed to change.
I take regular inspiration from your Substack posts. I’ve been 95% self employed all along, and your writing really resonates.
I have an odd thing to say, I really enjoy doing my taxes! Central to self employment is an embrace of schedule C, “Profit or loss from business or profession.” Part of the embrace is a daily, or at least weekly, entering income and expenses into your ledger.
It is a healthy pattern of behavior that keeps your tax bill low, and your business growing as you reinvest.
And I don’t mind paying taxes, I’m no piggy Libertarian! I just don’t want to pay one cent more than is due.
OK, keep up the brilliant work and thanks for your indulgence!
Thank you so much for this! Last year I cried in my fiancee's arms that I would have to work my shitty accounting job for the rest of my life. This year I quit that job and have been making it work as a poet for10 months now. I call it "piece-mealing". Putting together all the different sources and saying a prayer it's enough haha. Your inspiration has been a huge part of having the courage to try. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I am in awe of you Maria. I am so fucking glad you quit accounting. There is so much magic ahead for you.
For sure <3 Sending so much love!
Congratulations on saying YES to you and your poetry this way! ✨✨✨
thank you Megan!
Yay! 🥳
thank you! <3
Oh I feel you so hard on the accounting front. I did an accounting course, finished with honours, and when I sat down to do the job... Realized there's no chance I'm doing this the rest of my life. Hundreds of dollars down the tubes for something I don't even like.
💜💜💜
Amie takes no prisoners. Or, serves them hot chocolate. Afterwards, they are prisoners no more.
Art is long, life is short. Having reassessed my personal priorities, I am looking at happiness this way:
1) Getting what I dream is not happiness.
2) Happiness is the way to getting what I desire.
Dreamers are not:
1) wafflers
2) self-deceiving
3) ego-tripping, frippy-dips needing a good slap of reality
4) time-wasters, boorish
All those time and love hoarders who told me I am wasting my time, or, worse, I am ONLY a dreamer, I can say, once I figure this out, like an oyster fashioning a pearl, I will thank you.
Thanks for sharing so openly, and also demonstrating good boundaries around sharing! You work hard! That is clear 👌
Thanks for the transparency, Amie. I love how you doing more than just writing fiction gives you a more stable income but also more creative freedom because there is less pressure for your novels to earn you your whole living. This is absolutely key. ❤️
The thing that makes it hard to beat the voices of doubt in our head is how we hear “keep this passion as a hobby” and we hear it from those who do or others who are mainly doing the practical field.
Yes, it is valid to do your passion as a hobby but we see writing, music, and art in products we own. Who else is going to make that if we all listen to “do this as a hobby”?
Thanks for your dedication to taking creatives with your Amie. I adore it every time you share something with us. I’ve learned so much from you. THANK YOU from my creative heart 💜
Love this Amy. As an independent full time artist I think I would’ve more or less answered the same when it comes to a majority of the questions…. Having multiple income streams, be flexible as to how they vary, fluctuating months, cry about taxes (it’s my area…. It’s fucking hard as we’ve been moving around a lot too so not a single accountant in sight who wants to support at a human price…. Oh well), and the absolute rage against everyone who says it isn’t possible. I’ve been traditional and self published, sell original art works and digital training…. It’s all a mashup of magic isn’t it. You go girl 💖
Don’t seem to able to change the autocorrect spelling of your name…. I’m sorry Amie! 🙏🏼🫣🫶🏼
Thank you! I never thought about splitting things into revenue streams, and I appreciated your thoughts on what you monetize and what you don’t. (Because I am just starting out still and in the building phase slowly) I’d be interested to hear how you both did the research to set up your small business(es?). The finances bit is not my strong suit but a necessary part of it all. Thanks again and looking forward to continue following what you do!
We didn't stress too much about getting it perfect. We slowly cobbled together something that worked. At the beginning things should be simply enough that you can do most of it yourself. We still don't have a complicated corporate structure. In Australia, where we are tax resident, you can just operate a business as one or two individuals. It doesn't require any complicated setup. We may incorporate in the future but think it's easier to just run it as individuals for now.
If you're talking about taxes and payments, same thing. Find anything that works right now as long as it's legit. Stripe and Paypal are generally easy to set up.
For taxes, all our business related bank accounts just feed straight into Xero and whenever we get a receipt we just take a photo of it and send it to the app or, if it's an email invoice, forward it straight to Xero's receipt manager, Hubdock. We did this ourselves until about a year ago, including coding all the transactions into categories (travel, subscriptions etc.) but now the book keeper does it for us. I just double check their work at the end of the quarter.
Happy to answer any specific questions!
Thank you! That’s super helpful, I really appreciate your thoughtful response.
This is great! As a writer with a working class background, I find the lack of conversation around money in the arts so frustrating, like it's some dirty little secret. There seems to be some weird culture that you shouldn't want money. I find this to be a very middle class arts idea (in the UK class system) But money has literally given me education, time and space to create. Of course I want money, of course I want my art. I want both. I recently ran some writing workshops in my local community and felt a lot of guilt charging money for it. But, I stuck with it because I know my time and ideas have value.
This was really lovely of you to share and immensely helpful. Thank you, and I'm hoping this turns into another 6 figure deal! Cheering you on from afar xx
Thank you so much for sharing this, Amie. Helpful to know how things are actually operating BTS. You and James have always been incredibly generous with this.
My question is: Has there been an income stream that you tried on for size but it didn’t work out and so you scrapped it? Or, has it been that whatever viable path you thought of/discovered, you’ve kept it around long enough until it ultimately became profitable?
This ties into my bigger question of: How long do you keep at something before saying ‘nope, nothing can be generated from here. Lets move on’?
Love this question Esha, we tried patreon and it DID NOT work for me. It was too much work, ontop of the huge amount of writing I was already providing for free. Plus, it made me around 30 bucks a month. We have chosen not to monetize our substack too for now, because we learnt last time. I had it for probably eight months?? Before I let it go. It's hard to know when to just scrap something. For me, the fact I really wasn't enjoying it was a good sign that it needed to change.
That is a good sign and eight months is long enough to try. Thanks for sharing, Amie!
Thank you, really appreciate the honesty and transparency
Thanks Amie for all the wonderful insight and inspiring write up, giving lot of details and encouragement too.
Very cool you’re sharing this!!
I take regular inspiration from your Substack posts. I’ve been 95% self employed all along, and your writing really resonates.
I have an odd thing to say, I really enjoy doing my taxes! Central to self employment is an embrace of schedule C, “Profit or loss from business or profession.” Part of the embrace is a daily, or at least weekly, entering income and expenses into your ledger.
It is a healthy pattern of behavior that keeps your tax bill low, and your business growing as you reinvest.
And I don’t mind paying taxes, I’m no piggy Libertarian! I just don’t want to pay one cent more than is due.
OK, keep up the brilliant work and thanks for your indulgence!
The muggle job… 🤣