THE INSPIRATION PLACE PODCAST
Miriam Schulman:
Well hello, passion maker. This is artist, Miriam Schulman. You’re listening to episode number 129 of The Inspiration Place Podcast. I’m so happy that you’re here. Shout out to my newest listeners in Hungary, India, Mexico and oh, my God, Mozambique. Hello, I am so grateful that you’re here. Today, we’re going to talk all about the emotional side of money. In this episode, you’ll discover why you don’t manage your money, you manage your choices, why goals are the portrait of the future you want to create, and why we have a part to play in the manifestation of our blessings.
Today’s guest focuses on the human side of money. She works as a financial behaviorist and is committed to getting you to see that you don’t manage your money, you manage your choices around money. In addition to being the author of Financial Intimacy: How to Create a Healthy Relationship With Your Money and Your Mate, and a frequent blogger and podcaster, she also has programs that help entrepreneurs and small business owners tackle the question: What should I charge for this? I know I get asked that question by all of you all the time. So if your emotions are getting in the way, I’m sure she’ll be able to help you.
She helps her clients price more confidently, strategically, and in such a way that propels their business and life forward. And she’s also the host of the podcast, More Than Money. When she’s not providing behavioral based financial coaching, she’s traveling the country for speaking engagements, or dropping in virtually on masterminds. Our guest holds an MBA in finance from Fordham University and she was an undergrad in marketing from FIT, the Fashion Institute of Technology. This combination, she credits in part for being able to blend her analytical mind and creative spirit. I’m sure you are going to love her. Please welcome to The Inspiration Place, Jacquette Timmons. Hey, Jacquette, welcome to the show.
Jacquette Timmons:
I am so delighted to be here. Thank you, Miriam.
Miriam Schulman:
This is so exciting. I have a ton of questions to ask you. Talking about this upcoming interview with my husband in the car, I said, “Yeah, I invited a financial literacy expert.” He says, “Oh, you’re going to talk about spreadsheets and balance sheets.” I was like, “Oh, God. No. That is not what we’re talking about.” So I said, “Maybe if they like her and they join one of her programs, she may have some training on that, but that’s not what we’re talking about today.”
Jacquette Timmons:
Well, that’s really, really funny. And we’ll have to talk about the term financial literacy because I do not like that term at all.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. Well, why I like you is you have a book called Financial Intimacy.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
And I have to confess that I thought the book was going to be about our relationship with money, becoming intimate with our own numbers. And it was more about how our intimacy with other people affects how we handle money.
Jacquette Timmons:
I say it’s a two way street. I say that your relationship with money impacts how you relate to other people and what you expect of them in the context of your relationships. And then at the same time, it also flows in the opposite direction. Your relationships with other people and what they expect of you in the context of money impacts your relationship with money. So it’s not really either or, it’s a flow.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. That’s what’s interesting.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
Right, not the spreadsheets. Let’s get this out of the way from the very beginning. It’s important to track your money using something.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yes, absolutely.
Miriam Schulman:
Let’s just talk about that first and get it out of the way, and then we’re going to talk about all the juicy stuff.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yeah, totally. And so here’s the thing, I believe that most people couch tracking purely from the standpoint of budgeting, and I don’t. I think that can be really useful, but I think tracking is more beneficial from the standpoint of it is a way of collecting data. And I’m of the mindset that you can never interrupt a pattern that you don’t notice. And when you’re collecting data, you are collecting information in the form of digits, perhaps, and in the form of a lot of other things, that helps you to see a pattern that you would not normally see if you weren’t tracking your money, so that’s why I’m a huge proponent of tracking, however it is that you do so.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. And I’m glad you said that because I track my money and I don’t do it to budget at all.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yeah. No, I don’t either.
Miriam Schulman:
I do because I want to know. Well, how much did I make? That’s why I do it. I want to know at any given time.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yep. How much did you make? And then not only that, because I have listened to a few of your podcasts, you want to know total. How much did you make? And then also, how much did you make in particular categories? Because that can help inform whether or not you want to expend as much energy or even more energy moving forward into that thing because you also get a chance to measure. Was there return on investment? Was there return on energy? Was it what you thought it was going to be?
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. I’m always, let’s use the emotion, sad, when I am talking to a client and I ask them, how much did you make doing … We’ll just make something up, doing pet portraits versus your art classes, and they can’t tell me.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
I was like, “Well, how can we make you more profitable if you don’t know what’s already working?”
Jacquette Timmons:
Right, exactly. Exactly.
Miriam Schulman:
Also, also, I find so many people, I call this the painted rock problem, where they spend so much time making something that’s cheap.
Jacquette Timmons:
Right.
Miriam Schulman:
And they think that the volume is going to make up for it, and it never does.
Jacquette Timmons:
Nope. And I always say to folks, “You can choose where you want to be on the spectrum.” Right? Meaning, I like a hamburger. I like me a really good hamburger. And I don’t make them at home, so we’ve been on lockdown forever, so I haven’t had a hamburger inside a restaurant in forever. I love to use this example of you can get a hamburger at McDonald’s. You can get a hamburger at a diner. You can get a hamburger at a bistro, or a pub, a neighborhood bistro or pub, or you can get it at a steakhouse. Each of those are going to be different price points. Each of those, because of those different price points, it means that the quality of the beef will be different. The quality of your entire dining experience will be different.
And so McDonald’s does really well, and they do well in terms of volume. And the steakhouse, I mean, all they all do well, McDonald’s will do well based on volume, so I’m not going to knock that. But you as an artist need to really understand and recognize. Do you only want to work there? Do you want to have a few things that you’re doing “at volume”? Or do you want to have a diversity of offers, where you’ve got some things at volume, but you have even more? And when I say more, I don’t necessarily mean quantity, but more work that you’re doing that’s really classified as premium.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. I don’t think any artist wants to be the McDonald’s.
Jacquette Timmons:
Right. Exactly.
Miriam Schulman:
But that’s how they act though.
Jacquette Timmons:
But I was about to say, they don’t want … They would cringe with that association. And yet, that’s how they are approaching their body of work.
Miriam Schulman:
Yes. And by the way, here are some telltale signs that you are being a McDonald’s, by the way, painted rocks, handmade magnets, spending time on creating anything for Café Press basically. Any of those things, that’s McDonald’s.
Jacquette Timmons:
Right.
Miriam Schulman:
We want to be the Tiffany’s of artists.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yes, absolutely.
Miriam Schulman:
Because it’s less work for more money.
Jacquette Timmons:
You get a higher return on your effort and on your energy and return on money, return on investment.
Miriam Schulman:
Now I get so many people so that I serve, and mostly women, we’ve been socialized as a woman that, that’s not cool to talk about money.
Jacquette Timmons:
Well, here’s the thing. Right? I think that we talk about money all the time, I just don’t think we’re having the right conversations.
Miriam Schulman:
Yes.
Jacquette Timmons:
Women I think are indeed socialized very differently about money than men. But I think even when it comes to talking about it, we’ll talk about that sale. We’ll talk about that bargain. That’s talking about money. What we typically though won’t talk about is what we most want. Or what are our values? Or you know what, I did X, and that didn’t quite turn out the way that I thought it was going to turn out, and so now I am forever shy about doing that. Those are the kinds of conversations that we are typically not having because those are the conversations that really put a spotlight and illuminate aspects of our identity, aspects of the behavior that we’ve had in the past that we might not like the consequences of today. It might highlight the values that we have that may or may not be in alignment with our family of origin. I mean, there are just so many different things that’s kind of wrapped up in money. And those are the kinds of things that we don’t typically talk about.
As a result, we say, “Oh, we don’t talk about money,” but I think we talk about it all the time, when you hear people talking about the bargains, or the sales, or they’ll say, “Oh, you know what, I bought X, Y, Z stock and now it’s sky high.” But they won’t tell you when it drops.
Miriam Schulman:
Yes.
Jacquette Timmons:
Right?
Miriam Schulman:
My son has indoctrinated me into that whole Game Stop thing.
Jacquette Timmons:
Oh, my God. That’s such a-
Miriam Schulman:
Day before it hit the paper, so it was like-
Jacquette Timmons:
It’s so fascinating. It’s a fascinating story.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. He’s 20, so he’s right in there with the whole Reddit crowd. He knew all about that. Tell me what you think about this. Women who, when they talk about what they do, many of them, it has to be because it saves the world. It can’t just be they want the money because they want the money. It has to be about how they’re serving. What are your thoughts about that?
Jacquette Timmons:
I think so many of what we do and how we think about things that are money, and money adjacent, are through the lens of either/or as opposed to both/and. So how can you save the world, and at the same time, make money? How can you make both of those be right? Why does one have to be right, quote, unquote, and the other wrong? You see it also when people talk about debt. I am not of the opinion that you’ve got to pay off all your debt before you can start saving. If you’ve got debt, you hopefully can do both, even if it means it will take you a little bit longer to get out of debt. I feel like it’s better to do both/and, so pay off your debt, and at the same time, make sure that you’re setting aside money that you’re saving as well. So I think a lot of it stems from this idea that things are either/or, as opposed to making space and room for both/and.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. Let’s cut right to the chase. This is why I’m familiar with you because you’ve gone on other people’s podcasts. And I know you speak to people’s masterminds. In your business, who is it that you’re helping and why?
Jacquette Timmons:
My business has three pillars, if you will. I am a for hire speaker, and so I do a lot of work for law firms, your Fortune 100, 500 companies. Going in house and doing financial workshops with the law firms, for their partners and associates, for the other country … Countries. For the other companies, their employees. I also host my own events. As you made mention, I host a pricing masterclass. I host a dinner series. And then I do one on one coaching. And that one on one coaching is primarily aimed at entrepreneurs and small business owners. And these are people who are really darned good at what it is that they do, whatever that discipline is, but maybe not so good at the business side of it.
And it starts to show up because they’re making sales, but they’re not making as many sales as they’d like, or they’re making a lot of money, but they are still feeling really, really broke. Or they’re making money and they can’t figure out: Why is it that they can’t hire someone. And they’re like, “What the heck is going on?” And so it’s a business issue that comes to their awareness because it’s showing up in their finances. And so I come in to help them actually take a look at it through the lens of this issue that you are seeing, it’s actually a reflection of many different relationships, your relationship with money, with yourself, with your business, and the people that you serve. And so through that, we take a look at their business models, their sales process, and their pricing to help them get to a point where they’re rocking and rolling and feeling good.
Miriam Schulman:
Can you give some specific example of a way somebody self sabotages because of their relationship with money?
Jacquette Timmons:
Oh, my goodness. I think a common one-
Miriam Schulman:
Use a fake name, but yeah.
Jacquette Timmons:
I think a common one is undercharging, completely undercharging, and not only undercharging, but sometimes not even really being fully aware that you’re undercharging. Or sometimes you know it, but you don’t feel confident enough to raise your pricing, so I think that’s a clear, clear example of that.
Miriam Schulman:
I coach a lot of artists who do pet portraits because that is a huge business. And when they have trouble raising their prices, I say, “Well, you have a pet. Right?” And they go, “Yeah.” How much did you spend on your last vet bill? Usually a lot more than they’re charging for their paintings. My poor kitty was sick and we had to take her to the vet yesterday. It was $500.
Jacquette Timmons:
Ouch.
Miriam Schulman:
I know, because she’s a sick kitty. And a lot of artists are not charging more than $200 for a pet portrait, and I think most people rather have a painting after they spent that kind of money than just the bill. All I have to show for my … I mean, it’s treating my cat, clearly. But right now, all I have is a piece of paper that shows all the things they did to treat my cat. But the point is that if somebody is, like me, where I’m willing to continually put that money into my pet, and pets are a multi billion dollar business. Just in the US alone, people spend billions of dollars on their pets.
Jacquette Timmons:
That’s amazing.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, it is amazing. That’s why there are a lot of pet portrait artists because this, it’s a business. It’s a healthy business. But wrapping your head around the idea that, oh, yes, and they will spend money on art of their pets.
Jacquette Timmons:
Right. One of the reasons that I think pricing is hard from the standpoint of we tend to project our buying behavior onto other people. So the artist might feel like, oh my goodness, I would never pay that, and therefore, they won’t charge it. And they could be completely wrong about it. Or they might say, “I would pay that,” but not think that somebody else would, and therefore, don’t charge it. It can be potentially financially sabotaging, self sabotaging if you find yourself in that situation.
So let me give you a concrete example, but take it away from art. So I have a friend who will spend, I mean, I kid you not, $200, $300, $400 on a pair of jeans. I happen to think that’s absolutely crazy, but I also don’t wear jeans. There was a group of us, and I made a comment about, “Why would you do that?” And then a mutual friend of ours said, “But wait a second, Jacquette. You would spend that much on a pair of shoes, true, on a blouse, true, on a dress, true.” And it was just like, “Oh, yeah. I wouldn’t spend that much money on a pair of jeans, but it’s not that I wouldn’t spend that much money on any other kind of clothing item or accessory.” And so I think that’s just a really great way of just illuminating for people how when we extend that behavior into our work, we can find ourselves where we’re leaving money that we shouldn’t be leaving on the table.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. I think what a lot of artists do is because it’s easy for them, and it doesn’t take them a lot of time, they don’t value it as much. And you have to remember that the person who is investing in it, it’s not easy for them. They don’t know how to do it. Even if they are an artist, they don’t know how to do it the way you do it. And that’s why they wanted … Because artists do buy art, by the way.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
I know at least I do.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
So that’s true for sure. I always like to say that I can’t afford it is a lie.
Jacquette Timmons:
It’s a half truth because if you don’t have the money in your bank account at this very, very moment, there’s a truth to that statement. However, the question is: If you can’t afford it right now, are you willing to do the work that you can afford it at some point in the future?
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. Where I was going with it, I love what you said, and where I was going with it was a little different, is most of the time, that statement is because they don’t value it. For example, you don’t buy $200 dollar pair of jeans. By the way, I might, but I wear the same pair of jeans until my thighs have rubbed a hole in it, then I buy my new pair. Okay.
Jacquette Timmons:
Right.
Miriam Schulman:
But I would never, ever spend $3000 on a Chanel bag. And it’s not because I can’t afford it, but I don’t want to spend my money that way.
Jacquette Timmons:
Right.
Miriam Schulman:
I think it’s very disempowering when people say, “Oh, I can’t afford that.” And it’s really that they choose not to spend it. Unless they had like, in the position, and that’s not what we’re talking about, where they really don’t have … They’re on the street and they don’t have money to keep the lights on. But that’s not what we’re talking about.
Jacquette Timmons:
Right. Also, people feeling comfortable saying no, which is something that as women, we are not conditioned to so easily say. Right? And so instead of saying, “No, I don’t want that. No, I don’t like that. No, that’s not my style. That’s not my taste,” instead of saying that, some people might defer to I can’t afford it because that’s something that will resonate with a lot more people than perhaps saying, “Just no.”
Miriam Schulman:
But I think it’s really a bad habit for us to say that because you start internalizing that you can’t afford it whenever you say that, when it’s really more empowering just to be very mindful of your words and saying, “I choose not to spend my money that way.”
Jacquette Timmons:
Exactly. Yeah. We’re saying the same thing. We’re saying the exact same thing.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah, totally. Okay, good. I always like when people agree with me. All right. I don’t mind arguing with my guests. By the way. I wanted to make sure you know that I just had two spots open up inside The Artist Incubator. So if you’re lacking a solid strategy or a winning mindset, and you’ve been disappointed by your current art sales, I can help you with that. If you’ve been listening to this podcast and you found my tips helpful, maybe it’s time to take the next logical step and work with me on a deeper level. The Incubator program is for both professional and emerging artists who are ready to invest in their career and join a dynamic community who are all doing the same. Please go to schulmanart.com/biz to apply now. Now back to the show.
All right. I want to dig into some of the juiciness that’s in your book. Some things have to do with money. Some things don’t. We’re just going to bop around. Okay?
Jacquette Timmons:
Sounds good.
Miriam Schulman:
All right. So one thing that I really like that you said is giving your savings a purpose. Can you elaborate on that?
Jacquette Timmons:
Yes. So I think we, as a culture, have a tendency to do a couple of things. One, focus on saving, talk about saving, but only look at it as if it is this one big comprehensive bucket where all your money that you’re saving goes into. I find that the challenge with that is if you’ve got multiple goals, which hopefully everyone has, all of those different goals, there’s a financial component to them, or at least to 99.9% of them. And if you’ve got a separate bucket for each of those different goals, or for at least for those goals that are of a similar nature, it is a lot easier to keep track of the progress that you’ve making toward saving for those goals.
So if you are, whenever we can start really going on vacations again, if you’ve got a savings bucket, if you’ve got a bucket for buying those $200 jeans, and you want to buy five pairs or whatever, whatever it is that you might have as something that you want to set money aside for, if you’re doing that over time, A, you can see the progress that you’re making as you’re contributing to it. You can see how much further you have to go. And here’s the other thing. It informs how you manage your cashflow right now and whether or not that saving is a liquid type of saving, or that saving is an investing type of saving. So that’s why I highlight the importance of giving your savings a purpose and a goal.
Miriam Schulman:
And then do you recommend that they actually be in separate accounts, like this is my retirement savings, this is what I’m saving for a car, this is my mad money?
Jacquette Timmons:
I do.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay.
Jacquette Timmons:
I do, and there are some financial institutions that make it very easy for you to have multiple accounts that are connected. They don’t charge you for all those multiple accounts either, that’s the key. So yeah, I do.
Miriam Schulman:
Is Chase one of them? Because that’s where my money is.
Jacquette Timmons:
No.
Miriam Schulman:
I might be moving away from them. Okay.
Jacquette Timmons:
Or you know what, you don’t have to move away from them. You can have, I believe in having a diverse financial portfolio, so you can have your account there, and then you can have another account. And I can give you some names off air if you want, of where you can go.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. Sounds cool because we’re both in New York, by the way, for our listeners who don’t know why we’re talking about the weather, the hamburgers.
Jacquette Timmons:
Right. And we can also talk about, remember Leona Helmsley, she left all her money to her dog, when you were talking about people and their pets.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s a great story. Oh, yeah. Do you have a pet?
Jacquette Timmons:
I have a cat, yes. Her name’s [crosstalk 00:24:20].
Miriam Schulman:
We’re cat people.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yes. Yes, yes, yes. She was my mommy’s cat, and so inherited her, and I just love her to pieces.
Miriam Schulman:
Aw. Okay. So this was another interesting thing you said. You have very unique philosophy about making stress your friend. I don’t think I ever heard that before. So what do you mean by that?
Jacquette Timmons:
Yeah. So I think a lot of times, we are told that both stress and fear are things that we should avoid. And I’m of the mindset that if you actually are feeling stressful or feeling fear, if you take a moment and pause and ask, “What is this trying to tell me?” That’s where it can be your friend because that’s where it can give you some insight and some information that you might not be privy too because you’re all tensed and tight and feeling fearful and feeling stressful.
A quick story around how I came to that form of enlightenment was scuba diving. I had gone down to Tortola to do my checkout dives, and for the particular certification that I was going for, you had to do nine dives. And each dive, you got deeper, you went down further and further. So my total depth was 90 feet. My first dive went really, really well. Second dive, not so much. Second dive was a backward flip into the water off the side of the boat. By the time I hit the water, my regulator came out, my goggles came off. I was just all discombobulated. Calmed down, did what I needed to do, came back up, and the dive master said, “That’s the best thing that could’ve ever happened to you.”
And it was a woman, which was really unusual to have a woman dive master, back in the ’90s anyway. And she said, “The day you get on this boat and you are not a little bit afraid is the day you better not go diving.” And she said, “Your problem was your first dive went so, so well, that you got a little cocky, and you didn’t double check everything before you went on your second dive.” So I’ve gotten to the point where I feel stress, when I feel fear, I don’t try to wish it away. But I get curious and I interrogate it, and try to see. What is it trying to get me to pay attention to?
Miriam Schulman:
That’s so interesting. All right, so make stress your friend. Next on the Jacquette truisms, give yourself credit for what you do well.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yeah. We live in a culture where we focus so much on our faults. We focus on our mistakes, whether it be our own, whether it be other people’s.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. It’s called the what’s wrong with me project.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yeah, exactly.
Miriam Schulman:
Instead of what’s right with about me.
Jacquette Timmons:
Exactly, exactly. And so I feel like we need to make sure that we’re spending some time, if not, maybe even a little bit more time, giving ourselves credit for what we do well, and I think especially when it comes to money, it’s really helpful if you take stock of: When did you have a financial win? When did you quote that price that maybe felt a little uncomfortable because it was higher than you had ever quoted before, and someone said yes? Celebrate that. Or when did you pay off a credit card bill? Celebrate that, or whatever it is. Make sure that you are not just skipping over the moment, and you’re pausing to appreciate it.
Miriam Schulman:
I’m going to use the word pause to segue into my completely unrelated statement.
Jacquette Timmons:
Sure.
Miriam Schulman:
You quoted Lauren Berman Fortgang.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
Her quote, “Get quiet more often and let the dream find you.” I was like highlighting, under … So by the way, I always … I never read with a Kindle. I shouldn’t say never. If I’m pinched because I need a book and it’s not arrived in time, I might use a Kindle. I love writing in books and highlighting. And yours got the full treatment.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yay.
Miriam Schulman:
Lots of writing, lots of underlining.
Jacquette Timmons:
I love it.
Miriam Schulman:
But this one, I loved. Get quiet more often let the dream find you. Can you elaborate on that?
Jacquette Timmons:
One of the other questions that goes along with that, that I got from her, is the question of: What do I need to know? For me, both that question and her quote, it really stems from the point that we’re so busy moving that we don’t take the time to get still, to get quiet, and actually let the answers come to us because a lot of the times, the things that we’re struggling with: What should we do with our business? What should we do with our money? How much should we charge for it? Yes, there are some tactical and strategic things that we need to do, but if we got a little bit more quiet, or got quiet a little bit more often, the ideas that we might need to help move the needle are right there. There’s so much noise that we can’t hear it, so that’s where that comes into play for me.
Miriam Schulman:
Also, we need to turn our phones off, not fill every minute of boredom because boredom and mind wandering is so good for creativity.
Jacquette Timmons:
It is. It is. It is. And I need to get better at not being on my phone all the time.
Miriam Schulman:
I say it because I’m just as guilty. I’m not sitting here as the high priestess who keeps my phone off. That usage has gone up quite a bit in the last [crosstalk 00:29:26].
Jacquette Timmons:
Yeah. Well, especially 2020. That’s a verb now, you know?
Miriam Schulman:
2020.
Jacquette Timmons:
How you feeling? 2020.
Miriam Schulman:
We’re still in it though. What happened? I thought on January 1st, it was supposed to end.
Jacquette Timmons:
It was, but we’re in version 2.0.
Miriam Schulman:
Right. Okay, don’t count what you don’t have.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yeah. So you know where this comes into play, so let’s say you get a new client, but they haven’t paid you yet for your artwork, but you’re claiming the payment. That’s not good because: What if they change their mind? Maybe that doesn’t work. Maybe that never happens in the art world. I don’t know.
Miriam Schulman:
Whoa, whoa, whoa. No. This is a valuable lesson. Do not start painting until, if you’re a commissioned artist, or could be a different kind of artist, don’t start that commission before you get the money.
Jacquette Timmons:
Exactly, before you get that deposit, no.
Miriam Schulman:
I was in a Facebook group where the woman did that same problem three times, and I got so sick of giving her the same advice, I finally had to block her. I didn’t want to hear her complain one more time that she started a commission, and the person changed their mind.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yep.
Miriam Schulman:
It’s also I think energetically like your letting the universe know that it’s okay to do this.
Jacquette Timmons:
It is.
Miriam Schulman:
You don’t start even talking about the project until they’ve given you money.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yep.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s it. Negotiate with them, fine. But don’t start it until you have cha ching ching in your account.
Jacquette Timmons:
Cha ching ching, exactly. I do not consider it in my account until it’s in my account. It does not go on my tracking, even if the agreement has been signed. The amount of the contract does not go into my spreadsheet until I either have the payment in full or the first payment.
Miriam Schulman:
See, it’s interesting that you said that because I thought what this meant, because this is where I’m really guilty of, in January, I launched a class where I made $42,000. But in my mind, I had made that money before it showed up. And what was really showing up in January was negative $12,000.
Jacquette Timmons:
Well, that too. That too.
Miriam Schulman:
It wasn’t in my account yet. But in my mind, I had earned it. Here is actually the very sad thing. So meanwhile, my father in law passed away.
Jacquette Timmons:
Oh. My condolences.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah, no. He had COVID, so that was my January. But I almost didn’t have that launch. I had to cancel a masterclass. I almost didn’t close that deal. I could’ve ended the month negative $12,000, not what I made, so that’s where actually I thought you meant don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
Jacquette Timmons:
Well, I do mean that too. Don’t spend what you have does mean that as well. Until it’s there, don’t count it.
Miriam Schulman:
I’m getting a new website. I did all those things. And it was January was a very expensive month.
Jacquette Timmons:
Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. So I want to end with one more very practical piece of advice. This is something like I heard before, but meanwhile, I didn’t do it, which is make copies of the contents of your wallet and put it in a safe deposit box.
Jacquette Timmons:
So true. I mean, think about it. If something were to happen, even if it is not an end of life event, let’s just say something happens and you’re in the hospital. If your wallet’s not with you, it’s not on your person, but people need to be able to get in touch on your behalf with your financial institutions, where are they going to go? Now granted, that means that they need to have access to the safe deposit, so that’s another issue. But I think it’s important to make copies of all your credit cards, your debit cards, any insurance documents. Whatever is in your wallet, do not have your social security card in there, but whatever else is in your wallet, that is considered a personally identifiable document, have a copy of it. And preferably have it in a safe deposit box, or someplace where only a few people know about it, so that if they need to get in touch with these institutions, it makes it a heck of a lot easier to do.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. And then even just with the things that happen, like your wallet gets lost or stolen, that it just makes it easier for you to like, “Well, which credit cards do I have? And who do I need to contact?”
Jacquette Timmons:
Yeah. And you know what you might want to do is you might want to make it a habit so that as I’m saying this, I’m thinking, “Oh, I need to do this myself,” do it at either the start of the year or your birthday as an annual reminder of, oh, let me make sure, because we all get replacement cards. Right? We might not get replacement cards every year, but we get replacement cards, and so you want to make sure you’ve got the most recent one.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s fantastic. We’re going to wrap up in a moment. I would love, Jacquette, if you could tell everyone about your pricing masterclass. Who is that for?
Jacquette Timmons:
Yes. It is for anyone who is struggling with their pricing, and that should-
Miriam Schulman:
Which is everybody who listens to this show, I just want you to know. Well, wait. Let me just say. Not everybody who listens to this show wants to sell their art. Everybody who wants to monetize the struggles with pricing.
Jacquette Timmons:
Right, exactly. And so if you’re trying to figure out: What is that right price for you and your people? Because here’s the other thing, the question: What should I charge for this? Is universal, the answer is not. And if you are struggling figuring out what is the price that you should come up with for your art, you haven’t figured that out yet, or you want to figure out how to improve it, that is who the pricing masterclass is for. And as I mentioned at the top, the way that I approach pricing is by looking at it from all three sides, the financial, the emotional, and the personal. And the way we get into all of that is by looking at your relationship with money, with your self, with your business, and with your people, because all of that is wrapped up into that number.
You might see, for example, $10,000, and how you relate to that $10,000 is one way. And your clients or customers, they might see that and relate to it another way. And you’re trying to make sure that there’s some synergy in terms of those reactions.
Miriam Schulman:
Fantastic. I’m sure a lot of people are going to want to check that out. It’s jacquettetimmons.com/pricing-masterclass. And you can find the links to that in the show notes. On your app, you can click through. But schulmanart.com/129 is today’s show. All right. We’re going to just ask for your last words in a moment. But I just want to remind everybody, if you like this episode, check out The Artist Incubator. It’s my private coaching program for professional and emerging artists. I actually, as of this recording, I only have two spots. But I do have room, so if you want to take your current art business to the next level, I will show you how to make more money from your art. It’s by application only. Go to schulmanart.com/biz as in biz. If you qualify, then you’ll get a free strategy session with me, so you can see if you’re a great fit. And we’ll discuss the steps you need to take to reach your goals and thrive. All righty, Jacquette, do you have any last words for my listeners before we call this podcast complete?
Jacquette Timmons:
Yeah. Just remember we bounce around the language, talking about watching your language, that you manage money. And I would love for people to really replace that with you manage your choices around money. So if you get more curious about the choices that you’re making and why you’re making that, and I’m purposefully using the word curious as you ask the question why, and not coming at it from a place of judgment, but if you do that, you will probably get a little bit more insight. And that will just at the end of the day help you make better, smarter, choices.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, you are such a great guest. Thank you so much for joining me here today.
Jacquette Timmons:
Oh, my gosh. Thank you. I loved your questions. And thank you for reading the book. I really appreciate that.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, well, it’s good. You’ll find a link to her book in the show notes as well, Financial Intimacy. All right, my art lover, thank you so much for being with me here today. We’ll see you the same time, same place, next week. Stay inspired.
Thank you for listening to The Inspiration Place Podcast. Connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com/schulmanart, on Instagram at Schulman Art, and of course, on schulmanart.com.
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