Hi there, I’m Kristine Oller and this is Creating Cashflow episode nineteen. Maybe you’re listening because you’ve been wondering if there’s something you can make, share, or do that someone would actually pay you for or maybe you’re listening because you have a biz but it’s not yet generating a substantial flow of cash – either way, this podcast is here to help.

Today we’re going bust the seven big lies that keep creative folks from making more cash.

This episode is especially for the many creatives out there – and this might be you – a talented creative who has the skills and the smarts to build lucrative streams of supplemental income to help fund your artistic pursuits… but you just doesn’t know where to start. Or don’t know what exactly is involved. Or you’ve tried to start a little something on the side and that attempt didn’t go so well. Or you’re believing other people’s stories about what is and isn’t possible or proper for an artist to be doing in the world.

You might be thinking, “Yeah, I don’t know if I have those kinds of skills or smarts…” But what if you actually do? And chances are, as someone who is listening to this right now, you probably do. And if you do it would be so sad not to at least explore what might be possible for you in terms of having a more flexible schedule and having ways to generate more cash.

So if this even just kinda sorta sounds like maybe it’s for you, stick with me here. I’m here because I’m a creative too, and, in this bright and shining new year, I don’t want you to fall through the economic cracks if you don’t have to. I don’t want you to keep searching for or grinding away at a job that drains you of your spirit and energy if there is another way. And there is another way. A path that you can start walking down right away. So please don’t dismiss the idea of building a little side biz until you’ve heard what I have to share with you today.

But who am I and why listen to me?

Well, once upon a time, I was an actor living in my hometown of L.A. working a part-time job managing a theatre for $6 an hour (which was actually above minimum wage back in the 90’s). One day I stumbled across a small article in a magazine about this dude who called himself a “professional organizer.” This was before the internet, before Google, so all I knew was that there was this one other person out there actually getting paid to organize people’s homes and offices… which I had been doing as a hobby most of my life. So the very next day, I printed up a few business cards and started telling everyone that I was starting a new business helping people declutter. When I told my generally supportive dad about my new venture his first words were: “I don’t think anyone’s going pay you for that.” But I thought that there was a chance that they would. And they did. And now I had a supplemental income stream where I was earning $35 an hour instead of $6.

Fast forward a few years and my fellow actors started asking me about how I built my little biz and I started helping them start side hustles of their own. Fast forward through the last twenty years and I’ve now helped hundreds of creatives explore how to generate supplemental income to fund their artistic pursuits. And throughout these past two decades I, myself, have been fully self-employed, in charge of my own schedule, and able to give myself raises (sometimes without even raising my prices – which is one of the little profit boosters that I’ll teach you in the Creating Cashflow course).

So, I have a lot of experience in this area – but the most important reason why you should listen to me on this particular subject is because in order to have a successful side biz that supports but does not overwhelm your creative career, you have to build it a certain way.

I’ll come back to that in a minute… but right now, let’s get started busting the 7 Big Lies that keep you, as a creative, from making more cash. And by “lies” I mean the lies you are telling yourself – the fear-based stories that, if you are choosing to believe them, are definitely holding you back from earning what I call “above and beyond” money. As you can imagine, you will have a much more satisfying experience and increase your odds of success once you are able to earn an income that consistently exceeds the amount that you need to cover your regular monthly expenses.

Okay, let’s look at Lie #1:

If I have a side biz, people will think I’m less committed to my art.

This is the number one lie I hear creatives telling themselves. I know where this story comes from because I heard those same myths too… “In order to succeed you must be totally devoted to your art. If you do anything else but your craft you will not be respected as a true artist. You must be willing to starve for your art. To succeed in this industry you cannot have a plan B.”

This very old glamorization of the “starving artist” is reinforced each time we read those magazine profiles of someone who says they were down to their last nickel and eating tuna out of the can when they got their big break or had their big breakthrough idea and everything changed. And it’s easy to think that their single-minded devotion to sticking it out and only accepting employment as an artist is the reason they got rewarded.

But you know who we don’t hear about? The artists down to their last nickels eating tuna from cans who DON’T land the series or get discovered just in the financial nick of time. How much longer were those folks able to sustain themselves – especially living in a major market? Did they have to prematurely pack it in just before their luck was about to turn?

You know who else we don’t hear much about? The creatives who keep their day jobs and side gigs even after they start earning substantial money from their art. Right off the top of my head I think of actress Wendi McLendon-Covey, one of the stars of the ABC sitcom
The Goldbergs, who mentioned in an interview on Marc Maron’s podcast that she kept her little side job even after she found regular work as an actress. Quoting Wendi from that 2017 interview:

“I was working at Cal State Long Beach in the social work department editing a scholarly journal that they put out, and I did that for twelve years. I kept that job all through
The Groundlings, all through Reno 911… all through Bridesmaids, I kept my little side job cuz you just never know…”

Another example is author Soman Chainani who shared on Tim Ferriss’ podcast that he kept his tutoring side hustle going even after his first book, The School For Good and Evil, became a New York Times best seller. Soman said:

“The great thing about tutoring was it took all the pressure off the book… it meant that I could write freely because at the end of the day my money wasn’t going to come from that book… I don’t like depending on my art for income because then I start to think in a mercenary way.”

Author Elizabeth Gilbert makes the case that, from her perspective, the fact that she had supplemental streams of income is proof that she was dedicated to her art. She wrote in her book, Big Magic:

“I always wanted to make money out of my art…[but] I did not quit all my other jobs until Eat Pray Love became a crazy bestseller… The reason I always maintained other streams of income was because I never wanted to burden my creativity with the task of providing for me in the material world.”

Thankfully, these days, we are hearing, more and more, about creatives who have developed the business acumen and business relationships to leverage the profile they have as an artist into what are basically side hustles. And not “after they retired,” but while they are still active as artists. Actress Reese Witherspoon founded the clothing and accessories brand Draper James. Singer Erykah Badu is also a doula and certified midwife – a side biz she started long after she was famous. Actor Matthew Lillard co-founded an online emporium called Beadle & Grimm’s to sell premium Dungeons & Dragons gaming materials. Actor Jeremy Renner continues to renovate and flip houses even after multiple Oscar nominations.

Anyone who is still whispering to you that your dedication as an artist will be questioned because you choose to be a multi-hyphenate is not clued in to our new paradigm. Your job as a creative is to become undeniably good at your craft and to figure out how to financially sustain yourself so that you have the energy and the space to enjoy your life and share your art with the rest of us.

In life you are looking for your “right people.” And your right people are people who won’t have a problem with you having a side hustle.

Lie #2:

A side biz will hurt my creative career
(or overshadow or overtake my creative career).

This is definitely the second most popular negative story that creatives are telling themselves – and it is definitely keeping them from making more cash. There are two versions of this lie – 1) that a side biz will hurt your artistic career and 2) that it will overtake your artistic career.

Let’s look at each one of those individually.

Having a side biz did not hurt my creative career – it actually helped it. From the moment I began my side biz, I earned more per hour than at any of my other support jobs. Earning more per hour freed up more time for me to pursue auditions. Getting more auditions and having more time to prepare for them led to me booking more work and earning even more “above and beyond” money.

Part of the reason I was booking so much more after starting my side hustle was because suddenly I didn’t need acting gigs in the way so many of my colleagues did. Once I had my side hustle, I started walking into audition rooms with a very different energy. I wanted the role, but I didn’t need the role. I didn’t need the industry to give me money, because my side biz was providing that. I didn’t need the industry to give me praise, because I was getting plenty of validation from my clients. And I didn’t need the industry to save me from my circumstances, because I was realizing how much power I had to change my circumstances myself. So now I could walk into an audition room like the highly successful actors did – just happy to be there and mentally and emotionally available to play.

On top of that, my business muscles were getting stronger. The more practice I got in my side hustle asking for money, setting boundaries with clients, and marketing my services, the easier it became to interact with my agents, negotiate on projects, and market my services as an actor.

Ah, but how come my side biz did not overtake or overshadow my artistic pursuits?

Well, for one thing, I had tools and tactics that I could use to grow and shrink my side hustle when I wanted to (and I share those same tools and tactics with you in my Creating Cashflow course).

And I also knew this little secret:

If your side hustle begins to overshadow your creative career, it’s not because your side hustle has become too powerful, it’s because your vision for your creative career has become too weak.

And by “weak” I mean the plans of action you have for your career are vague, uncompelling, and surrounded by doubt. We humans gravitate towards structure, so when your career plan feels uncertain or overwhelming, it is completely natural for your time, attention, energy, and resources to be pulled towards the concrete benefits and relative excitement of a paycheck – whether that money is coming from a side hustle or a day job. That day job or that side hustle gets your attention because it has structure and clear, immediate rewards – show up at this time, do these tasks, check things off the list, get rewarded in praise or money or both, and end the day feeling productive.

But, I promise you: if you have a clear plan of action in place for your creative career that’s decorated with glitter and sequins and excitement and support, it will remain a top priority and it will be much easier to keep your side hustle where it belongs – on the side.

Lie #3:

Starting a side hustle is too risky.

I totally understand why creatives tell themselves this limiting story, because, from one perspective, venturing into the world of having a side hustle seems like a gamble. What if I shift my life in this way and it doesn’t work and I’m worse off and farther behind that when I started? What if I put myself out there and people reject what I’m offering or what I’m charging?

Testing the “what ifs” of a side biz can seem really risky; sticking with a steady paycheck can seem like much less of a risk.

But what if those two options are equally risky? If that was the story you were telling yourself (instead of the lie that a side hustle was the greater risk), then you could chose either path with the same amount of confidence.

One reason you might think that a “steady paycheck” job is less risky is because you already have one. And you are hoping that something wonderful will happen in your creative career that will improve your circumstances substantially. Something that will let you leave that job and never have to do that kind of depleting work again. Like, ever. And you and I both know that that has happened in the lives of some creatives so it could – it could – happen to you, too.

From my perspective though, staying in a draining, inflexible job is placing a big bet on luck, whereas starting a side hustle is placing a big bet on yourself.

Way back when I was considering dipping my toe into the side hustle waters, I asked myself:

Which of those two bets has the better odds of improving my circumstances? And which bet offers ways that I can influence the outcome?

And I chose to bet on myself. I didn’t immediately ditch my day job – and I’m not suggesting you do that either. I just started carving out time to build a new little income stream step by step. I made that choice because I considered it a greater risk for a smart, ambitious creative – like you – to stay stuck in a position where even though as the months and years pass you are getting better and more skilled at what you are doing – waiting tables, working retail, bartending, etc. – you are in a situation where having more experience and expertise doesn’t necessarily translate into having more flexibility or working fewer hours or generating income that’s above and beyond. In that situation, someone else gets to decide when and how you are rewarded for your skills and your service – no matter how good your skills and services are.

And someone else gets to decide if you get to keep that steady paycheck.

The choice to start a side hustle or to stick with a regular job is yours to make. I just don’t want you to make that decision based on the thought that one is risker than the other. They both have benefits and they both have challenges. That said, from what my clients and I have experienced, the benefits of having a successful little side biz greatly reduce the risk of getting one up and running.

Lie #4:

I don’t have anything people will pay me for.

That’s a lie. You totally do.

If you are here with me, there’s a 98% chance that some combination of your skills, strengths, talents, creativity, and smarts will result in you being able to do something or produce something that multiple people will pay you to do or to provide – repeatedly.

You may not know what that is at the moment, but you not knowing it is different from it not existing.

Know what else might be true? You might already have an idea of what you’d like to offer, but you haven’t yet asked anyone to pay you for it. Or you asked one person and they said “no.” Or you asked for such a small amount of money that you didn’t make a profit on the sale.

Asking can be scary (because rejection feels uncomfortable) so I totally understand the temptation to tell yourself the lie: “no one will pay me for that.”

But what if they will?

What if I could show you how to choose your concept, find your clients, strengthen your communication with your clients in compelling ways, and make an ask that gets you to the cash?

How might that rock your world?
 And how do I know you can do it? Because, don’t forget, as a creative, you are already out there making the biggest, scariest ask of all: “Would you like to pay me for my art?”
 You’re already out there asking that! So by comparison, asking folks if they want to pay you for this other thing will likely feel easier.

And if you haven’t been out there making that big, scary ask around your art, then one way to build your muscles in the asking arena is to start asking people if they want to pay you for that other thing.

Your show business muscles and your side business muscles are the same muscles. The point is to increase their strength. And I am here to help you do exactly that – as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

Lie #5:

Building a side biz will take too long.

If you are under the spell of this lie, my question is: How are you defining “too long?”

Oh yes, I know your lizard brain is gesturing wildly and running around in circles screaming, “This thing needs to be up and running PRONTO! We need money YESTERDAY! Rent is due in 16 days! Unless this hustle can crank out $3,000 starting next month I’m not interested!!”

I know, your lizard brain is anxious and wants an instant fix. And starting a side hustle is not an instant fix.

But the benefits of a side biz only feel too far away when you are thinking short term.

If you want to still be