Artists' Prosperity Bootcamp

Just a quick note to say that we are coming down the wire if you are interested in registering for the next round of our Artists' Prosperity Bootcamp.

This is a 10 week teleseminar series, where each week your coach goes into detail on one part of the Artists' Prosperity System. The great thing about this is that it really gets you into action around your finances in a way that a one day event can never achieve.

If you are interested in finding out more, please visit us at Artists' Prosperity Bootcamp, where you can see all the details of the program and more.

I am also excited to announce that, for the Monday night class, we have a student from South Africa enrolled! That makes four continents that we have students from - world domination next!

Have a great week.

Free Financial Teleseminar

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I will be doing a free intro teleseminar "The Power of Prosperity" on Thursday, April 17, from 4 - 5:15pm Pacific. You can register by clicking:

The Power of Prosperity

It is an excellent intro to the work we do at Abundance Bound, and gives some great financial tips and tricks that actors and artists can put to work right away. We also record the call, and distribute it to the participants via email, so even if you cannot make it live, you can still benefit from it at your convenience! 

I would encourage any and everyone to register, as it is a terrific first step in taking control of you finances, and therefore your artistic and acting careers.

See (hear) you then.

Making Tomorrow A Better Today pt 2

Carrying on from where we left of in yesterday's post, and continuing the idea that John Maxwell had when he said:

"The secret of your success is found in your daily routine"

That is a powerful statement, and has a huge application in both business and personal lives - not to mention our artistic careers and financial prospects...

The same is true in your finances. If I am struggling with debt, what can I do to get out from under it? Can I call the credit card companies and beg for a break? Can I tear up my bills, move, and hope they won’t find me? You certainly could, but it wouldn’t be recommended. Instead, wouldn’t it be better to make more money, shave some money off your expenses, pay a little less in taxes, put a solid debt plan in place, and move forward freely than constantly worrying about how you were going to handle those student loans? Again, what expenses can I track today that can be used as tax deductions? How can a work a bit more today to make that bit of extra money I need to cover those expenses? How can I alter my spending habits today so that I have to worry less tomorrow? (For assistance with this, please email us at info@abundancebound.com with the title “Chart of Expenses”, and we will send you a very detailed excel file to help break down your income and expenses, and identify where you could trim, what you need to improve etc).

By now you get the picture. Oscar Wylde said “every action of the common day makes or unmakes character”, and, beyond that, everything you do today effects where you will be tomorrow.

There are two kinds of pain in this arena: the pain  of discipline, and the pain of regret. Now, especially when it comes to our finances, we can play now and pay later, or we can pay now and play later. The problem is, payment compounds, and increases with time and missed opportunities. So if you suffer the pain of paying now – of discipline, of doing the things you need to do long after the mood in which you said them in has gone, of paying attention to your actions today – you will get to play a lot longer in the end.

All of this is a process. No-one expects people to flick a switch and suddenly have amazing organizational skills, perfect credit and financial savvy. Just like getting fit takes time, so does this. The important thing is that, as you take your financial journey, you are not alone. Abundance Bound is there to help you any way we can, and we very much look forward to the opportunity of doing so.

Making Tomorrow A Better Today

How do we define success? And, more importantly, what does it take to achieve it? For actors, those answers might be “Being a series regular on a night-time drama” and “Consistently honing my craft and auditioning regularly”. For a photographer, they might be “Shooting a cover for National Geographic” (or Cosmopolitan, depending on preference), and “Constantly shooting in different conditions to increase my skill”. It will differ from person to person, and from art form to art form, but I want to give you one key to what it takes that applies across the board, be it art, business, finance or sport:

“The secret to you success is determined by your daily agenda… by the daily decisions I make, and the daily disciplines I practice” – Dr John C. Maxwell

I heard that statement in a lesson a few years ago, and it is something that has always stuck with me, because I fundamentally believe that it is true. Another way of saying it is that, if what and where I am today is a direct result of my previous actions, what I am tomorrow depends on what I do today. The problem is, most people underestimate what they can do today, and over estimate what they can do tomorrow.

Now, if you think about this for a minute, you will see how true it is.  You constantly hear “I’ll do it tomorrow”. I know I say that, and then, when it doesn’t happen tomorrow, it becomes “the next day”… then the next… then the next, until either we hit a crisis and do it at the expense of something else, or we just never quite get around to it.

Taking acting as an example: how can you book any jobs if you don’t audition? And how can you audition if casting directors aren’t seeing your headshot? And how are they seeing your headshot unless it is being put in front of them? So how many submissions are you or your agent making today? How many workshops are you attending today? What networking are you doing today? What are you doing today to hone your skill so that, when the opportunity arises, you perform to the best of your abilities? But maybe making that phone call to an agent is uncomfortable, so you put it of to tomorrow, and traffic is really bad tonight, so that networking event can wait… you get the picture.

To be continued...

What Financial Freedom Really Means (1)

The concept of "Financial Freedom" is, understandably, a popular one. But what does it actually mean? The answer is simple, but truly understanding it will change your financial focus.

Everyone dreams of financial freedom. It doesn’t matter if you are waiting tables at Chillis’, the CEO of a large company, or a stay-at-home Mum, the illusive concept of financial freedom calls to us. We want more time and more money, so that we can spend some of that doing things we want to do as opposed to what we have to do.

But, generally speaking, that is where we stop. At the “Wouldn’t it be nice if…” stage. We never really bother to think about how we could achieve freedom in our life. What this would look like. How things would be different. Let alone the fact that, due to a crumbling social security system, financial freedom is something we need to achieve. Not want. Not dream of. Need to.

But that still doesn’t answer the question of what do people actually mean when they refer to “Financial Freedom”. People have this vague concept of it being about “money in the bank” (as I did), or earning much more than they are spending. In truth, it has nothing to do with either of these things (although the first answer at least moves you in the correct direction). No, the real definition of financial freedom is this:

Having enough passive income to cover all your living expenses indefinitely.

That’s it. Nice and short. That is (or should be) the is the purpose of all financial strategies. Every time you make a financial decision, in the background should be a little voice whispering “Does this increase my passive income?” Now sometimes that answer may be no, and for good reason, but the question needs to be asked none-the-less. Otherwise, just like any other goal, it will be nearly impossible to hit.