Congratulations, you're seen as an expert because you're invited to speak or perform at a conference, festival or some other type of event.
But once you ask what's the budget, they're looking at you like you're crazy or that you're telling them you're going to abduct their firstborn.
This week, a cartoon appeared in the Dutch Newspaper Volkskrant, about this specific topic.
It says: “Do you want to speak at our event about how to make money with your drawings” – “Sure, what does it pay?” – “Nothing“.
And this example is not an exception, in fact, some of my clients have faced this reality many times.
What also happened after that, is that once my client told the event organiser that they needed to be paid, they would not respond with a ‘logical': “I understand you want this, what can we do for you?”
But they got the full force with people saying:
“Who do you think you are?”
“Everybody does it for free”
“We don't have money for speakers“
“It's great for your ‘reputation‘”
And so on and so on.
As an artist you should never have to ‘subsidize' a poorly managed event.
So even if you're considering organizing an event and not paying anyone, you should at least have some manners.
My point for this newsletter is not to scold the institutions, but to help you see what you could do in situations like these (and other cases in which you need to negotiate about money).
When should you skip a gig because it doesn't pay and when should you actually go for it, because there always are exceptions.
I've worked with quite some artists now in my 1,5 years as a coach and I want to share with you what I've learned and seen what works for them.
And I'm going to share all the insights for free.
This summer, I'm hosting a masterclass on how you can learn from my clients' results for your very own practice. This masterclass is for visual artists, musicians, theater makers, writers, photographers, videographers, anyone who works in the creative field.
You're welcome to join, I'm very exited to prepare this!
In this week's podcast
One of my clients came up to me last week and told me she received some negative feedback and that it really has influenced her confidence and way of working that week.
Luckily, she was smart enough to share her struggle with me, so that we could both find a solution. You can hear my 3 tips for her in this week's episode. I'm also answering a question coming into my inbox on when you should step into working with a coach (not just me, any business coach) and my answer is quite elaborate, because it's different for every phase in your business.
With a little over 20 mins, it's a sweet and short episode:
Do you have a question for me for on the podcast?
It's really easy!
Happening in my business this week:
- The Big Business Club and the Mastermind are filled with inspiration and great online calls, only last week we spoke about: sales plans for 2024 / money mindset / ideal clients / conversion and what to do with it in your business / marketing your business from a core message and so much more.
If you also want to choose the best approach to your business, the Mastermind is open for new applications (the Club is invite only). - On instagram, I am revealing a one-off deal for just one person. A year-long super indulgence treat. Every week the price goes up, so if you're curious (I will reveal more and more each week on my instagram stories), you can reply to this email to see if this is for you and grab that seat before it is taken.
- I'm working on an internal project to implement my website, coursehub and emails into Kajabi, it's gonna be an interesting road ahead this summer, but it's time to say goodbye to my old systems, in order to grow and prepare for something very exiting I'm launching this September or November (depending on how fast everything goes ;-). I will of course, keep you informed.
Have a great rest of your week and see you in the next!
All the best,
Sarah
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