Money Tells the Truth
August 6, 2023
If you’ve been a subscriber these last few weeks, I’m certain you’ve gathered how passionate I am about illuminating paths for creatives and artists to support themselves within the entertainment industry (“Time to Rally: The 1st Step to Supporting Yourself”).
But if I’m honest with myself, lately my tone has felt a little doom and gloom, which is not my typical or preferred stance, and it doesn’t actually represent the entirety of my perspective.
I got a much-needed, loving reminder this week to focus on positive solutions that enlighten with humanity and humor — and that’s why I’m so excited about this week’s newsletter spotlight. It’s all about financial support for artists and from someone who is at once real, encouraging, and funny.
Meet Paco de Leon
Author, Illustrator, Musician, and Founder of The Hell Yeah Group
“If you asked 15-year-old Paco what she’d be when she grew up, she’d have said a musician, an animator, or anything creative. But I didn’t want my immigrant parents to worry about me, so I chose finance and economics. Having been in various financial service jobs — from debt collector to financial planner — I want to share… truths about money I saw and learned over 16 years.”
Since creating The Hell Yeah Group, Paco has “dedicated her life's work to helping folks feel less weird about money.” Through her articles and resources, Paco normalizes money conversations, with a special attention to the folks who the financial system is stacked against. I so admire how she’s focused on a niche that is very important to me: the intersection of creativity, capitalism, and social justice.
From her weekly Nerdletter newsletters, to her Weird Finance podcast and Finance for the People book (which I highly recommend reading or listening to!), I’m such a fan of Paco and her work. I’ve even worked with Hell Yeah Bookkeeping and gotten tons of invaluable advice. I cannot emphasize how much I respect her work.
With her own creative background, Paco offers so much with artists in mind, so here are 3 of her resources to get started:
1. “How to Feel Better About Your Finances: The Operating Principles”
“We all operate based on our own set of internal values and principles. We make financial decisions based on them, and our choices shape our financial life.
If you aren't aware of the financial principles you're living and operating by, you might have internalized someone else's, like your mother's fear or risk. Or your father's illusory confidence in his abilities to understand complex financial instruments. Your uncle's skepticism of everyone ‘trying to make a buck.’ Your aunt's overconfidence in the intentions of others.
Since there is so much we cannot control, you have to take responsibility for what you can control. Make sure you're acting on the values you truly value.”
From her weekly newsletter, here are Paco’s own financial operating principles that guide her to making the best financial decisions with limited information — but more than anything, these are also principles for “finding inner peace about money.”
2. “The Secret to Being a Successful Freelancer”
Too often, freelancers are told they have to choose between being creative or making money. But in this TED Talk, Paco debunks this thinking and explains how focusing on money doesn’t have to mean corrupting one’s creativity.
In fact, it’s essential that freelancers become more comfortable with money because “our freedom is at stake: our freedom to create, to influence and to use the power of money to change the very exploitation that keeps artists broke to begin with.”
3. “How Do I Plan Financially When My Paychecks Are Inconsistent?”
Paco is also a monthly contributor to Refinery29’s Taking Stock column — “a space to take a deep breath and try to figure out what the current state of the economy really means for our finances.”
In this edition, Paco talks about what it's like to feel financially secure as a self-employed freelancer with sporadic paychecks. “How do you manage your money to ensure you have a safety net when your pay schedule is inconsistent?”
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In this newsletter, the wonderful Abby Garcia (former Nine Muses Lab student, and current collaborator) shares her heartfelt advice to fellow recent graduates: how to deal with the post-grad “scaries,” embrace unexpected opportunities, and cultivate personal and professional growth.
“If Not Now, When? If Not You, Who?”
There are a lot of questions about what’s happening in the entertainment industry… a lot of them existential. But in the last few weeks, what’s given me perspective was watching The Art of Making It documentary. Here’s why…
And if you’d like more incredible resources from Paco De Leon:
Sign up for her excellent newsletter, The Nerdletter, made for creatives who are looking for “money advice that you can actually understand”
Listen to Paco’s podcast, Weird Finance, all about having real, honest, unconventional money conversations “in the hopes that these stories will help us make better decisions and take better care of one another.”
And get a copy of her book (or audiobook), Finance for the People, an illustrated, practical guide to navigating your financial life, no matter your financial situation.
Sign up for Bryce’s newsletter and be the first to receive Q&As, behind-the-scenes updates on all things BDH, insider tips for navigating the entertainment industry — and more!