No big production this time

The house has been listed for a week now.  No big fixes, staging, etc. this time.  Just cleaning up the rooms and the boxes.  As is.

I understand there’s not the competition there was last time either, as far as a perfectly done-up, immaculate looking house with all the right granite countertops, new carpeting, and 100% beige etc.  Apparently this time some of our competition has holes in the walls, missing faucets, all kinds of interesting things that angry people do and take when they’re walking away from their foreclosures.

So the fact that our house is clean, relatively uncluttered and has all it’s working parts and walls is pretty good.  We don’t have the money to do all that this time anyway.  The last time we listed it, 2 years ago, we spent over $10,000, and months on do-it-yourself projects painting, sprucing up, etc.

The realtor at that time even had us hire a window washer ($300).  Maids to scrub bathrooms & kitchen: $200.

We haven’t had any lookers yet.  But at least when we do, I won’t feel resentful when they walk away after I’ve spent a ton of money on silly stuff I don’t even like (to impress them!?).

 

Back to Blogging

Everybody asks me what I’m going to do.

I.  Have.  No.  Clue.

Actually, that’s not 100% true.  I know what I’m planning to do.

Drive.

I’m not supporting myself finanially very well here.  My teaching roster has severely dwindled down, and I haven’t been getting many new students.

At this point in life, I don’t have much patience left to do anything I don’t want to do.  I’ve tried starting up a few businesses (see earlier posts) and have done enough stupid business things to write “the stupid book.”

There’s nothing I want to do now except sing, play the piano and write songs, so I’m going to go on the road and do it.  Learn to live by serendipity and instinct.   My car gets 50 mpg.

Hence….(love that word!) I’m blogging again.  I figure,  this could be kind of like an “Eat Love Pray” thing, without the book advance, international travel, good food or meditation.

I haven’t booked any shows out of town yet, so once the house sells, I may just park at a friend’s for a few months, get my bearings, and then take off.  I just want to get out from under the burden of the bills of this house first.  As long as we’re stuck here, we both need to do everything we possibly can to keep the creditors happy until we can sell.

The value of our house has gone down almost 50%, but unlike those unlucky 1 in 4 underwaters, we still have some equity – not a lot – but what there is, we want to get out.  So we’re doing the best we can to stay until we sell.

Anyway, those be my plans for now.  I reserve the right to change at any point.

Wish me luck.

 

Signs of Recovery?

One of the headlines when I opened my Yahoo account today was “Signs of Recovery.”  Well, I hope that’s true, because things are a little bit scary here.  All the safety nets I had counted on when going through this whole process, knowing I’d be ok with a year or two to get myself up & running – aren’t there.

We couldn’t sell this house, our main “asset”, & now it’s only worth about half it’s previous value.  My private teaching practice has dwindled greatly.  I’m attributing some of that to the summer… people going away etc. – hopefully that’s all it is…. but things still haven’t begun re-popping.  And then there was supposed to be a few years of some spousal support.  The first year was good, but now it’s all dwindled and my ex-spouse has even less income than I do and you can’t bleed water from a stone.  So, scary times.

I have a few shows coming up in September/October.  They’re big shows – great exposure, etc.  Let’s see if/where that all leads.

But if things don’t shift dramatically here real soon, I’m thinking about packing it all in and living out of my car for while.  Going on the road.  Working or not.  Just driving driving driving to someplace new.

 

Been awhile again

Well, it’s been awhile again.  So many things have changed.  I’ve moved on.  Still living with my ex.  Financial reasons – market’s been terrible.  But still, I’ve moved on in so many ways.

I took my webstore down – it had been hastilly conceived, poorly planned and expensive to maintain.  But a lot of good did come out of it, so I’m in the process of building a new, scaled-down model that will grow more organically, as I can handle it.

I’m doing a lot more performing, which I love, and a lot less teaching, which is a little worrisome, because I depend on it for much of my income, but students don’t seem to be as plentiful as in the past.  For years I had a waiting list.  Now people will call and say “How much do you charge?” And if they find someone cheaper, you’re out.  Price shopping for teachers!  So I’m working on finding more and more, new ways of filling in this financial gap.

So that’s where things are at.  Movin’ on.  Older, wiser, and still, very much in the trenches, still “starting over.”  Who would’ve thought it could take so long?

 

Booking my first tour

I’m booking my first out-of-state tour.  In March I’m going to go up the coast of California, and then back down again.  That’s my plan.  I have 2 good dates in Southern California, 2 weeks apart, and I’m now preparing to fill the rest in.

I went to a music conference last week and met a lot of great people who gave me suggestions of places to look into and I’m following up on them all.  I’m loving my new contact management program, “Indie Band Manager”.  What a great investment! (I’m patting myself on the back here)

There’s an old musician joke that goes something like “What will the musician do if he wins the lottery”?  Answer:  “Keep working till he runs out of money.”  Implying that being a musician is a money pit, and many musicians work for less than free.  It’s 100% true when you’re first starting out.  

(btw, I heard a great musician’s joke last week that I’ve been sharing with everybody:  What do you call a girl on the arm of a banjo player?  A tattoo.)

Anyway, If I just went in & out of CA for those good gigs that are 2 weeks apart, I’d clear a slight profit.  But I’m feeling, if this is what I believe I want to do,  I need to put myself out there, start building an audience, letting people know who I am and what I do. The title of my last CD was “Visible.”  Well, it’s time. 

Today I booked a “songwriter showcase” gig there (i.e. – good exposure/no-pay) and may end up booking a few more.  

I figure I can live on about $100/day.  If I can stay with friends or fellow musicians anywhere along the way, sell some CDs & t-shirts, get at least a few more ok paying gigs during those two weeks, I won’t go too far down the hole and will hopefully a) set the stage for stronger follow-up tours and b) get a clearer idea if this is something I want to do, or not. 

You gotta try.  And I keep reminding myself, if not now, then when?

 

House selling, music marketing and roommates

It’s been a tumultuous and emotional few weeks. We just got all the papers in and will probably be divorced by May 1.

We haven’t sold our house, even though we had dropped the price to the best value for the money, location, etc.

———————–

In 1997, when I was running my own record label, cassettes were selling for $9.95, and we released a children’s cassette for $7.95, thinking of it as a brilliant marketing move; people would be attracted to ours because it was $2.00 cheaper.

I don’t think we sold any more than we would’ve sold at $9.95, but every time someone bought one, we made $2.00 less.

——————

So I called my realtor today and said “Hey nobody’s even walking through our house anyway so let’s put it back up to $9.95 so that when they do come through, we’ll get that extra $2.00.”

He thought that was a pretty good idea, but proposed an even better one.

——————–

So we’re taking the house off the market for awhile. My future ex and I have been getting along fine. We eat the same foods and like a lot of the same movies, which actually has been a pretty good reason to stay married longer than we should’ve. But it’s ok. Most of the drama has now passed.

We’ll be good roommates for awhile.

 

Rocky Road

Earlier in the day, we had another session with our accountant.  What can I say. Things are a tangled web.  He’s the best – and has been working diligently to unravel the mess we’ve been able to create over so many years.  He said “You’re going to have to come back for one more session.”

I said “I’m getting a little concerned. What’s all this going to be costing?”

He answered “More than you’ll want to pay.”

So now there’s the mediators fees, the house which seems to be losing equity by the minute, the accountant’s fees, taxes ….

I was starting to get a little freaked again (“starting” – hah!) and just found myself telling myself (over & over!) – “let it go.  It’s going to be ok.  This is reality.  Maybe you’re not going to walk out of this with money, but you’re going to walk out clean.”  And that’s something I’ve been craving for years.

I used to be a painter, and fondly remember that powerful feeling of pure potential, every time I approached a clean, newly stretched canvas. 

——————–

I performed last night at a concert for non-violence.  My future ex performed with me.  It went fantastic.  My favorite times are had on stage. 

A friend of mine’s band played after us.  They go by the name “Rocky Road”.  They do a lot of “Peter Paul & Mary” type stuff and (I think?) named themselves after a Peter Paul & Mary song.  They did some joking on stage about how they came up with their name.

—————-

I woke up this morning thinking about Rocky Road.  So what is it?  A great song.  A road full of rocks.  Or fantastic ice cream full of nuts and chocolate?  

 

Selective Incompetence

I’m learning to be a Business Person.  This is something I’ve never been “into” or taken any pride or initiative towards being into, because,… I’m a musician. 

I know.  Like that should explain anything.   

You know the condescending compliment a rich person might say about her maid: “Oh Esmerelda gets the windows so spotless!  I could never do that!!!”  Or the boss about his secretary:  “I’ll never be able to make my coffee as good as Maria can!” 

When my mother had a stroke we had to teach my father how to do laundry.  He has 3 masters degrees.

Selective incompetence.  Doesn’t do anyone any good. 

A lot of musicians have no idea what’s going on in the financial world.  Some who are fortunate enough to find fame and fortune and trust their business affairs to others wind up in the end holding (who said the following? – I love it:) “the fuzzy end of the lollipop”.

Today I had a session with my business coach and she said she just heard somewhere that the singer, Toni Braxton, had lost $13,000,000 through someone mismanaging her money.  My coach was astounded.  She said:  “Don’t you think she would’ve gotten a clue after the first million!!!”  

I’ve been a musician all my life, and guilty of the above selective incompetence, (minus the fame & fortune).  But basically, not dealing clearly with all those “boring financial and business details” because,…  “I’m an artist.”

As Dr. Phil would say “And how’s that working for you?”

It’s not, Dr. Phil.  I just got a book out of the library, “Business Intelligence for Dummies”.  I’m looking forward to reading it over the next few days.

 

In defense of “Rich Dad Poor Dad” – an unsolicited endorsement

 

I saw a young guy today on Dr. Phil today who bugged me. He had lost $2,000,000 in real estate investing and was blaming Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad Poor Dad ” for leading him astray through real estate flipping.

 

I read Kiyosaki’s book and I thought it was great, and this guy on Dr. Phil was way off the mark, for a number of reasons.

 

Number one, Kiyosaki is not even into “flipping houses.” His emphasis in purchasing real estate is on making your money going in, investing for cashflow, as opposed to profit on the going out (the sale), which is the flipper way.

 

Number two, the guy on Dr. Phil admitted that he lied on his loan applications, getting himself in way over his head, and not doing his homework. If there’s anything Kiyosaki repeatedly emphasizes, it’s do your due diligence. Work with a team. Know what you’re doing.

 

And this guy had the nerve to make a firm point to Dr. Phil, right at the beginning of the show, that he had gotten into this “Because of Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kyosaki.”

 

If you slam your finger in a door and the doctor says “You need stitches” and you don’t get stitches and your finger falls off, is it the doctor’s fault?

 

Give me a break. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a great book. And I am not getting paid for this book review.

 

Things coming more into focus

I sang at a church again today.  It went really well.  The Reverend’s talk was on passion, finding your passion, etc, how we all have a purpose in life, something we specifically came here to do.

I went out to lunch after with DJ and DR.  They asked how I was doing re: upcoming divorce etc.  I said I felt like major decisions/choices to make will be coming up in a very short time – and I’m flailing in the middle because 2 major life choices seem to be at opposite poles.

Most of my income is currently from my teaching practice.  I prefer teaching in my home, because it’s Quiet! & I keep all the money, but I also do some teaching at a local studio.  I don’t make quite enough to support myself, but could if I took on another 10 or 20 students.

If my goal is to build on my teaching practice, when this house sells I’ll need to look for another house, as opposed to a small (cheaper) apartment, that I can teach out of.  Which of course comes with the need to build and keep up the larger teaching practice in order to support the house! The middle class conundrum!

My other choice is to leave.  Just get out of here.  Jump off that proverbial cliff and start booking myself around the country as a musician.  Others do it, even though it can take years to build .  But that being my passion, why not now, when I’ll be free as a bird with good health, all the equipment I need and two great CDs under my belt.

But what if that doesn’t work out?  What if I don’t succeed?  I’ll still have bills.  Can I support myself?  What if I get tired of that lifestyle and need to come back one year/five years later, then, to what?  

And I’m craving a home base.  A place to unpack and paint the walls in real colors.  I want to set up my office and hang up my clothes.

DR said, why do you have to choose choice A or B?  How about C?

I said “What’s C?”

He said “get a house where you can put your bags down for now, and teach out of, and have roommates to cover the home expenses through rent.  Then you’ll have your home base, you’ll have an investment, and just take it from there.

DJ said “You’re going to need an agent if you’re going to go out on the road.  You can’t do this all yourself.”  She said she has a few people she knows she’s going to put me in touch with.

Slowly things are coming more into focus.