A lot of arteestic types say they’re too busy or they can’t be bothered to learn about commerce.  Some go so far as to say they’re not interested in material things.  They act as though they enjoy starving.

I call bullshit.

Arteests don’t try to learn about these unfamiliar, uncomfortable topics because it’s scares them.  Don’t underestimate how powerful The Resistance can be, and how easily our fragile egos will trick us into rationalizing away our fears as something–anything–other than what they really are.

Money, in and of itself, is merely a tool that simplifies the exchange of value between people.

For instance: You’re a goat farmer with a broken truck and I’m a truck mechanic.  You might offer me one of your goats as payment for my repairs to your truck.  If I like goat meat, we’ve got a deal.  Now if I’m a vegetarian who hates goat cheese, the goat’s value to me is questionable and the deal is off.  But what if I love goats so much I set the price for the repairs at one-and-a-half goats?

Money is society’s workaround for the one-and-a-half goat problem.  Or, as one of the central characters in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged explains it:

Money is the material shape of the principle that [people] who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value.  Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force.  Money is made possible only by the [people] who produce.  Is that what you consider evil?

Where people and by extension, money, get a bad rap is when they want money without having to provide value for it–Rand’s moochers and looters–or they just accumulate money for the sake of having more without making or doing something meaningful with it.  Like animal hoarders or junk hoarders, money hoarders aren’t much fun to be around.  If all you’re focused on is counting ducats while you ignore your audience and your craft, then you deserve every bit of nothing that heads your way.

If you want to create art for art’s sake, then do that.  Have a blast and don’t worry about the money.  Your art is your gift to society.

But if you’re trying to earn money from your creative efforts, then you need the marketplace–the intersection of art and commerce–because that’s where value is exchanged and, as British writer and metaphysicist Stuart Wilde reminds us, “the Universe cannot mail you a check from the clouds.”  And the better you understand the marketplace and commerce, the better you can “find other humans, satisfy their needs in some way, and have them transfer a little symbology into your bank account.”

It’s an unfortunate fact that most ideas just never happen.

After some extensive research with creatives, Scott Belsky writing in Making Ideas Happen, said that creativity itself is, “the greatest obstacle to seeing our ideas through to the finish.”

Whoa.  A bunch of real, working artists said the thing that goofed up their work the most was their own creativity?

Yep, and it gets worse.  Belsky goes on to identify the series of negative tendencies and challenges that accompany the creative psyche:

• self-doubts
• distaste for negative feedback
• tendency to use idea-generation as a way to escape the pain of self-discipline and execution
• rampant disorganization that (supposedly) fosters creative thinking

In my humble opinion, this is the real root of all evil… or at least the evil that stands in the way of our success.

Photo by sean94112

Photo by lepiaf.geo

Running your arts business isn’t easy. Besides creating your art, you also have to be the chief cook and bottle washer, taking care of the many details that keep the business end of things running smoothly. Daniel Isenberg, a former entrepreneur and management practice professor, examines the personal qualities and mind set that tend to be common amongst the successfully self-employed. One thought that caught my eye:

On the average, people who set up their own businesses don’t make more money, although a few do succeed in grabbing the brass ring. But the “psychic benefits” — the challenge, autonomy, recognition, excitement, and creativity — make it all worthwhile.

Learn more about the challenges of business ownership and take his 2–minute Isenberg Entrepreneur Test.

Dear Rex,

I’m a self-employed musician and pay for my own health insurance.  How much of this can I deduct?

–Healthy Artist

You may be able to deduct premiums paid for medical and dental insurance and qualified long-term care insurance for you, your spouse, and your dependents.  To qualify, you must be a self-employed individual with a net profit reported on Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business, Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040), Net Profit From Business.

The insurance plan must be established under your business.  For Schedule C filers, the policy can be either in the name of the business or in the name of the individual.  However, you cannot take the deduction for any month you were eligible to participate in any employer (including your spouse’s) subsidized health plan at any time during that month.

If you earned more than $400 during 2009 from work as a sole proprietor or independent contractor, you may owe self-employment tax. That’s true no matter what your age – even if you’re receiving social security benefits.

The tax is assessed on your earnings from self-employment, which can include income from qualified joint ventures and partnerships, as well as fees you earn working as a director for a corporation. In this context, “earnings” generally means your income after deducting expenses incurred while operating your business. If you have multiple businesses, you combine the net income and losses.

For your 2009 return, the self-employment tax rate is 15.3% of the first $106,800 that you earned. Income above the base is still subject to Medicare tax at a 2.9% rate.

What happens when you earn social security wages or tips from an employer and also have a side business? Your wages count toward the taxable base. Depending on how much you earn as an employee, your self-employment income may be subject to part or all of the tax.

You can pay self-employment tax on a quarterly basis as part of your estimated tax payments. One half of the total self-employment tax that you pay during the year is deductible on your income tax return, and you don’t have to itemize to claim the deduction.