The Run Your Own Mail Server launch is eating all my time, what with ordering hundreds of books and shipping them across the world. It’s brought cash flow to my mind, so here’s a chunk of Cash Flow For Creators.
I’ve known more than one artist who started looking at their craft as a business, kept all their receipts, and discovered at the end of the year that they’d dropped more on their art than on their kids. Many folks are horrified to learn just how much they spent on supplies. The truth is, you’ve spent that much, more or less, for years. Only your awareness has changed. (If those same kids are hungry and the mortgage company is sending threatening letters, that’s another matter!)
The flip side of spending is knowing how many consumable supplies you have. Every art uses supplies. Writers use paper, printer toner, pens, highlighters, paper clips, and so on. I prefer dark purple highlighters. Back in the 1980s, finding a dark purple highlighter was a bigger challenge than finding another quarter for the Pac-Man machine before the timer ran out. I developed the habit of buying every one I saw. I am now the proud owner of several hundred dark purple highlighters, and am forbidden to purchase any more.
There you go. Now back to the spreadsheets…