The Entrepreneur’s Salary 💸
Does it Even Exist?
Working on my modeling career to bring in sources of income. See the interesting lines throughout this image? I’ll be on the cover of Modern Cat magazine in no time!
Dear Diary,
Last week, we got caught back up after being offline for a month. One of the things I mentioned in my post (which I’ve mentioned in a previous post as well) was the conversation around money. Recently, I’ve found a renewed appreciation for the ability to bring in small amounts of income with the skill sets that I have - it makes me feel successful while living in a world where I’m not being given a monthly paycheck.
That’s right - this is something you don’t hear often enough in the beginning. I may be a CEO and Co-Founder of a tech startup, but that doesn’t mean I have any money…yet. My total annual income from this startup (and the previous startup) for this year from the point of starting my role full time can be calculated as such:
March 15-31 + Apr 1-30 + May 1-31 + June 1-31 + July 1-8 = Annual Income*
0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = Annual Income*
🥁🥁🥁 *drumroll please* 🥁🥁🥁
$0 = Annual Income*
Well, making no money month after month while spending money is a recipe for failure. And I don’t have a trust fund. So how do I sit here writing blogs week after week with a roof over my head and my needs met? Well, I am fortunate enough to have a partner I love that is a huge help in making sure our needs are taken care of (which was a large part in deciding to pursue this full time). This is not a luxury everyone has, but it is one that I have and am grateful for.
But what about everything else?
Saved money. Earning as I go. Building a foundation. These are the pillars in which I get to use to stand on my own two feet. At first, this made me incredibly nervous. Being someone who grew up with financial instability, spending money I don’t have (or even money I do have) never happened without a lot of planning. But just as I’ve changed my relationship with money over the years to better understand the risks and benefits, I’ve had to change it again with regards to how my money is earned.
I haven’t been on a salary my entire life. As a musician, I operated gig to gig, with teaching being my contractual long-term source of income supplemented by other sources like private lessons, gigs, and more. But being an entrepreneur means money looks and acts even differently than that. You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to use their approach, but you do have to change your mindset if you want to earn money like one.
So what does that look like? 🤔
First and foremost: You aren’t on this blog because it’s a blog about finances. And that means this is not financial advice - don’t blame me for your financial wellness or lack thereof. Nothing in here is considered counsel for your particular situation. As is with all these blogs, I’m sharing what I’ve learned during my journey as an entrepreneur. This blog is no different. Learn from me, but you’re responsible for you.
Now that that’s out of the way…let’s get to the good stuff.
When we go through school (unless perhaps you’re in school to become an entrepreneur?), we’re shown ways to earn income through doing what we are training to do. You know you’ve made it when you have your degree and your first job in the workforce out of college (or wherever you got your training). From there, it’s about moving up in your position or moving to different companies. In all regards, earning enough money from one job is the ideal because then you get your life outside of that one job to spend as you wish. For someone who is just looking for a stable lifestyle (like I was myself), this is an easy model to follow.
💼 We’ll call this the *traditional* model. 💼
However, layoffs have been the latest trend since COVID took over the world. Because of this, many people are starting to think about ways they can have multiple sources of income and/or saving up enough of a nest egg so that if they do get laid off from their job they are not in an emergent situation to pay their bills. While this isn’t exactly the scenario I’d say entrepreneurs follow, it’s a little bit closer than what I described above.
🚨 We’ll call this the *emergency preparedness* model. 🚨
The problem with the traditional model is that it forces you to heavily rely on all of your income coming from a single source. This means if you go out and try to do something on your own, you have large expectations that that source must give you all of your income or you will not be able to survive. This mindset can’t work for an entrepreneur who is just starting out.
The problem with the emergency preparedness model is that it uses the scarcity mindset for motivation. While it does better than the traditional model in finding multiple sources of income, it’s always in case that a source or two could disappear at any time. With that, you are never satisfied, always trying to find more ways to earn income or build up your savings. This mindset can’t work for an entrepreneur who is just starting out.
💸 So what’s the *entrepreneur* model? 💸 It’s about being frugal, resourceful, and intuitive. It’s about leveraging your strengths to lead a holistic approach to your financial wellness. It’s about understanding that projects are what become businesses that sustain you in the future, and projects need funding (in hours and in dollars). And it’s about being satisfied and trusting in the journey to build your empire.
My mentor in the accelerator program was the first person to really open my eyes to this model. It started with calling out the traditional model (and the emergency preparedness model) as what we know and showing the entrepreneur model as what we can be. He shared with me his experiences and what works for him. And now I’m sharing my experiences and what works for me. In the entrepreneur model, I:
🕵️ Look for resources that are available to me free or inexpensive.
💰 Set aside a realistic amount of money for me to work with in the year based on my personal financial situation and what I can invest.
🎶 Find avenues for income that allow me to fund the remaining amounts of money needed for these projects. If I don’t have money or resources, then they don’t get to happen until I find them.
This is the basic formula. And this turned my head upside down. 🥴 Instead of thinking “I need everything and it needs to come from one source”, I started thinking “What can I do with what I have?” and “What do I need to find to do what I can’t?”. And this changed everything.
This small mindset change made me appreciate the ways I am able to earn income in my life outside of my salaried job. It made me appreciate the time I was able to give away so freely because I had the money side satisfied. It’s made me more creative and innovative around ways I can use my time to grow as a person while bringing in income to fund my projects. And it made conversations with my partner about money easier and easier. Eventually, these projects will soon turn into revenue-building businesses. But for now, I can focus on building projects sustainably and fulfilling my needs outside of those projects so that they can thrive.
No matter what you do, the most important thing you can do with this model is to ensure that you are not relying on your future business to provide you with income today.
If you can accomplish that, you and your company will be in a much stronger place to succeed.
But this isn’t the only way. Currently, I’m reading the book “The Outsider Advantage” by Ciera Rogers and she took a different approach. Because her project didn’t involve a lot of startup time (in calendar days), she was able to use what she had (which was $10 and the clothes in her closet) to start earning income right away. And little by little she used the revenue she had to earn a living wage, pay rent, and build her business into a multi-million dollar company (Babes). When she could, she invested in items she needed to optimize the business, leveraging free resources whenever she could. Turning from the instagram/paypal combo to a more business-like platform for selling goods, she was able to grow faster and smarter because of it.
This is a fantastic book by founder and CEO Ciera Rogers. I’m only two chapters in and have been inspired by every page. If you have the time, give this book a read.
So not everyone’s path looks the same. But they all solve the same problem - how can I fund the project I want to do? How can I make sure my needs are met? How can I leverage my talents and the resources at my disposal? And how can I make sure I am set up for success?
Perseverance. Ingenuity. Creativity. Where will you go? 🚀
Leila Kaneda
Co-Founder and CEO
she/her/hers
