![\"Early](\"http:\/\/commons.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:BigPinkHeart.jpg\" "\\"Early")
<\/a>What is more appropriate to write about on Valentines Day<\/a> than love? Instead of writing about the \u00c9ros<\/a><\/em> or Ag\u00e1pe<\/a><\/em> versions today, we will focus on the Philia<\/a><\/em> variation that includes “a desire or enjoyment of an activity.” Since I decided that this week of 29 Days to Diva (#29daystodiva) would be devoted to money talk, this post is all about the value of the activity we love. According to Aristotle<\/a>, the object of philia is “another oneself.” We, as singers, recognize that the activity is not often separate from our beings but an extension of ourselves. Focusing on this type of love when it comes to finances brings us to our Day 14 challenge: spend your money on what you love<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Do not assume that you will be able to have a career in opera without spending a considerable amount of money in the early years. However, spend wisely and realistically. Nary a successful company was founded without financial investment and a sound business plan<\/a>. Begin considering your career as a start-up company that you will lead with a strong business plan and investment. When you begin to consider yourself a long-term enterprise, it will become necessary to do things at the time and in the order appropriate to grow your business.<\/p>\n I will not advocate that you begin living frugally or espouse the virtues of giving up your latte. (Frankly girl, it is much easier to deal with you in rehearsal if you’ve had your coffee.) This personal finance post is not a “what you shouldn’t do with you money” guilt-trip. Plus, any sort of extreme financial advice will probably not help you advance toward your goals. What I will chide are the times that you hemorrhage money on mindless expenses all the while complaining that you cannot commit to your career because of your fiscal woes. There is a balance out there and I am calling on you to only spend money on what you love and what will love you back down the road.<\/p>\n Singing is expensive. Some (ahem, perhaps myself, ahem) have even called it a “pyramid scheme<\/a>.” As young artists we are called to put a lot of investment money up front without any guarantees that we will have the career we originally dreamed. Higher education, pay-to-sings, lessons, coachings, recordings, accompanist fees, audition fees — it can all add up. That is why you must create a plan for singing expenses. You may be thinking, “I am barely covering the bills. How can I even think about a singing plan?” In all likelihood, you are already spending lots of money on the previous list and I am simply asking you to make more of that money work for you.This isn’t a budget so much as a way of being conscious about what you are already doing with the money you have – be it a lot or just a little.<\/p>\n First things first: after yesterday’s post<\/a>, I am sure you found all of your accounts and you may have even signed up for Mint<\/a>. Now that you know what your income is consider a few steps:<\/p>\n Try this to jump-start your spending makeover:<\/p>\n The overall challenge here is to put your money where your mouth is. Or, spend the same way that you talk about yourself. Most singers have challenges financially because they aren’t spending consciously. We spend on what we think we need to get through to the next level, or get through the semester, or to just get through the overwhelmingly long days. Following a plan for your spending that supports your ultimate career plans will help relieve you from the burden of debt and constant worrying over your financial future. Don’t wait for other people to shower you with huge salaries, be your own patron and increase your commitment to your craft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is more appropriate to write about on Valentines Day than love? Instead of writing about the \u00c9ros or Ag\u00e1pe versions today, we will focus on the Philia variation that includes “a desire or enjoyment of an activity.” Since I decided that this week of 29 Days to Diva (#29daystodiva) would be devoted to money […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[543,1],"tags":[589,586,248,247],"class_list":{"0":"post-1980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-29-days-to-diva","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-business-plan","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-opera","11":"tag-singing","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sybariticsinger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sybariticsinger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sybariticsinger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sybariticsinger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sybariticsinger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.sybariticsinger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88140,"href":"http:\/\/www.sybariticsinger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980\/revisions\/88140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sybariticsinger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sybariticsinger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sybariticsinger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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