Money
Saving through feast and famine.
Gig income doesn't arrive in tidy monthly paychecks. It comes in a flood and then a drought. The performers who stay in the business aren't the ones who earn the most in December — they're the ones who still have money in February.
Pay yourself a salary
The core trick is to stop living off whatever landed this week. Add up a realistic year of income, divide by twelve, and pay yourself that amount each month from a buffer account — even in a huge month, even in a dead one. The big months fill the buffer; the slow months draw it down. Your life stops swinging with your calendar.
Give every gig a job
When a booking pays, split it before you spend it. A simple version: a slice to taxes, a slice to retirement, a slice to the buffer, and the rest to live on. If that sounds like a lot to hold back, that's the point — it's money that was never really "yours" to spend. Our set-aside calculator puts real numbers on it.
Build the boring emergency fund
Seasonal work needs a bigger cushion than a salaried job — a few months of expenses, parked somewhere dull and reachable. It's not exciting, but it's what lets you turn down a bad gig, survive a slow spell, or replace a broken speaker without panic. Freedom, for a performer, is mostly a healthy buffer account.
Know your own calendar
Your slow season is predictable — you've lived it. Plan for it: bank harder before it, lean on marketing and re-books to soften it, and don't judge your whole business by its worst month. (This is exactly why we automate the yearly re-book nudge — last year's client is the cheapest gig you'll ever get, and it fills the quiet weeks.)
US general information for working performers — not financial, tax, or legal advice. The rules change and everyone’s situation is different; talk to a professional about yours.
Practical gig-business notes, occasionally.
The Working Act — short emails on getting and running gigs, from 40 years of booking our own. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.