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How I Make Money as a Cozy Self-Employed Artist ✿ The BIG Q&A: Finance, Taxes, Small Biz, Confidence - YouTube
Channel: unknown
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I am 22 years old a self-employed artist
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and I make at least 8 000 a month
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today I'm going to try something new I'm
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going to be standing the whole video
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because my back really hurts
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a couple weeks ago I asked you guys on
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the YouTube Community tab to send me
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questions for me to answer I also asked
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all my Instagram followers so I got a
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ton of questions and I categorized all
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the most popular questions into these
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big sections so I will put Chapters at
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the bottom of the video so you can fast
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forward to whichever question is most
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pertinent to you so yeah let's just get
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started
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I think I should address the elephant in
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the room which is money how much money
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do you make regularly I've been thinking
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of starting an online shop in the future
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and was wondering how profitable it is
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understandably there's a large stigma
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against being an artist I got a ton of
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questions asking how is this profitable
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how are you making a living does your
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boyfriend support you so many questions
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like that and I just want to give a
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disclaimer that I'm no stranger to
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financial instability I'm not a nepotism
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baby I chose art because I knew I could
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feasibly do it on my own and I think
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that sentiment is very uncommon to see
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portrayed in mainstream media you see
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The Starving Artists you see the
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romanticized artist but you don't really
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see the artist that has a business mind
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the artists are super smart when it
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comes to finance and they're
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self-employed they're entrepreneurs I
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feel like artists aren't really given
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enough credit where it's due so I guess
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I'm just saying this to preface that if
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you are thinking about having a small
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business or having an art business you
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can definitely make a living wage out of
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it it just takes a lot of work like
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anything in life since last August I've
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been consistently making around eight
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thousand dollars a month just from my
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online shop and keep in mind this is
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gross sales so that's before all the
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taxes and the expenses of running a
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business but in the fall I started
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taking YouTube very seriously so since
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October I've been making at least seven
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hundred dollars in AdSense a month
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through Instagram reels I make around
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150 a month and then throughout the
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month I'll typically take on a couple
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brand deals and each brand deal whether
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it's for YouTube or Instagram will pay
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me at least a thousand dollars so to
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summarize that I basically have two to
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three streams of income depending on how
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you see it I see it as three so the
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first one is my shop it's me selling my
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art the second one is social media which
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is YouTube AdSense and Instagram reels
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bonuses to me those are more stable than
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brand deals I know once a month I'll get
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a check from YouTube and once a month
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I'll get a check from Instagram so those
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are sort of fixed amounts I mean
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sometimes I'll go viral on Instagram and
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I'll get like 10 more bucks than usual
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but that's the second way I make money
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and I know other artists who are way
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bigger on YouTube so they make way more
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than me when it comes to AdSense and
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then the third stream of income is brand
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deals this can be integrated content for
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YouTube a dedicated Instagram reel or
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ugc videos and while each deal pays me
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about a thousand dollars I typically get
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paid 30 to 60 days after I submit that
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video so it's not something that I can
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Bank on every month it's just like that
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money will come eventually so yeah with
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those three streams of income I'm on
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track to make ninety six thousand
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dollars a year of course running your
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own business and being self-employed
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comes with expenses that a nine to five
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just wouldn't have like I have to save a
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chunk for taxes I have to pay for
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subscriptions like my shop website my
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Quickbooks membership my epidemic sound
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membership of course there's all the
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supplies and materials I need to run my
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business packaging supplies clay paint a
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computer I recently had to buy a new
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printer because my other printer broke
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down like all these things that I spend
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money on for for the sake of my business
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but at the end of the day I'm still
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making a living wage with extra to help
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support my family and I also have the
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freedom of being self-employed
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diversifying your revenue streams is one
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of the most important things that I've
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learned it's the same idea as not
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putting all your eggs in one basket so
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I'm not relying just on my shop so if my
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shop were to have a really bad month I
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could still pay for rent and food with
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my social media money and vice versa if
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I could focus more on revving up my
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physical shop and selling at markets and
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fairs and stuff like that and if all
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else fails I can always get a job and
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with my self-employed experience having
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a business gaining over a hundred
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thousand followers across all platforms
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I would still make a strong candidate
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for graphic design marketing Etc I do
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want to add a disclaimer that my cost of
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living is probably lower than a lot of
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other people my age I rent an apartment
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in the city but I have three other
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roommates to share the rent so I only
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pay about 750 a month and I also don't
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own a car so I don't have to pay any of
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the bills that come comes with having a
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car like Insurance parking maintenance
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none of that I occasionally help Mr
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uncomfy pay for the gas but that's about
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it
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before we get on to the next question I
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want to take a moment to briefly thank
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the sponsor of this video hellofresh so
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my roommates and I have a system where
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we take turns cooking for each other and
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I'm gonna be honest since we moved in
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together five months ago I only cooked
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dinner for us once with running my
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business and going to school at the same
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time it seems so exhausting and
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intimidating but thanks to hellofresh
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today I decided to surprise my roommates
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and cook dinner for them eating healthy
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and filling meals gives you the energy
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to achieve your goals and so comforting
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to know you always get top quality
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ingredients with hellofresh these
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farm to your door in less than seven
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it is the fastest easiest and most
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affordable way to whip up a restaurant
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this meal that I'm cooking right now
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took only 30 minutes to make and it made
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cooking seem so simple and fun again the
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biggest Plus for me is that there's no
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more stressful trips to the grocery
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saving our energy and time so we can do
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how did you learn all the finance and
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behind the scenes stuff to run a
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business and do you have any advice or
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can make a separate video on it for
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beginners love your work by the way
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thanks I think before I answer this
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question I am not a financial expert
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this is just everything that I've
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learned from my experience and I've made
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many many mistakes so yeah take
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everything I say with a grain of salt so
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regarding how I get my information is I
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follow a ton of other small businesses
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and I see what they do and I learn
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through observation and of course you
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want to Google everything double check
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everything look up small business
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finance videos that are made by
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Financial experts learn from people you
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can trust like literally pay for a CPA
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if you feel like you cannot do the
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research because it's better to spend
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money hiring an expert than messing up
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and losing a lot of money but just for
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beginners let's say you've been selling
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on Etsy for a while and you've been
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ramping up sales and you think wow I
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could do this for a living I want to
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make a business out of this I think once
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you get to the point where you can
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imagine yourself quitting your day job
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and pursuing this business full-time
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that's when you should get a separate
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bank account for me I did this pretty
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late I was selling on Etsy for whole
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year I made over twenty thousand dollars
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I finally switched to my own website and
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got a separate checking account you can
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literally go to any local bank your
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chase Your Key Bank I opened an online
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checking account through Novo just
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because it was like on nerd wallets list
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of best checking accounts for small
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businesses and from then on every
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purchase I made for my small business I
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charged it to that checking account and
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not my personal account this makes
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things way easier for yourself when it
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comes to tax season because on tax forms
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there will be sections where you can put
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in all the expenses that you had all the
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things that you spent money for your
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business and so much easier looking at
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your business checking account rather
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than your personal regarding expenses a
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lot of people like to keep receipts I'm
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not the type of person to keep receipts
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I'm the type of person to Chuck them in
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my pocket so that's why it's extremely
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important for me to keep everything in
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my business banking account so I can
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categorize them I use the Intuit
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QuickBooks self-employed app you can
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categorize expenses based on the
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different categories there are on your
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tax forms so that way when you file your
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tax return you can get some of your
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money back through deductibles now
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looking a little more into taxes I think
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all beginners should start with Etsy
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just because they provide you with the
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form they give you a 1099 format at the
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end of each tax year and it's the same
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form that all contractors get like if
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you do doordash or ubereats they'll
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provide you with a 1099 to file your
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taxes because technically you're a
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contractor for them same thing with
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patreon and YouTube I think but let's
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say you want to forego Etsy because they
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take a huge cut of your money and you
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just want to go straight to Shopify or
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Squarespace that is your own shop so you
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have to file your own taxes and that is
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why being diligent about keeping track
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of your expenses is super crucial if
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you're way more diligent about it then
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it'll be way easier for you to file my
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taxes I use Free Tax USA they do a free
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federal income tax return and it's 15 to
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file for your state tax return I just
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realized if you're not in the US all
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this tax stuff does not make any sense
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um I think I'm gonna move on from that I
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did file for an LLC because I just
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wanted uncomfit to be separate from me
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if something bad were to happen and each
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state has different rules for that like
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when I filed for my LLC I also filed for
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Colorado sales tax license so it's just
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things like that that you really have to
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Google what are the requirements for
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your state or the country that you live
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in I know this section may have been
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super confusing and anything around
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money can sort of be anxiety inducing so
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I just really want to end with this
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taxes and getting certain licenses to
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selling your state everything that comes
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with being self-employed is confusing
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but you'll get used to it so yeah don't
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let taxes stress you out I think that
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was all the questions relating to money
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so now we're gonna go on to the next
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topic
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I'd like to know if you could explain
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how you got started what really
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compelled you to begin your own business
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I have the worst time with inertia and
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I'd like to know how you overcame that
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especially since you are a
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self-confessed nervous personality
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um yes I'm pretty uncomfy like this
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whole filming experience is very
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uncomfortable for me still I guess it
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all has to do with my background and my
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experiences with having a regular job I
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started working since I was 15 years old
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my first job was at a baseball stadium
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and I worked at a Barry Kebab stand my
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job was to stick strawberries and
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bananas on sticks and drizzle them with
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chocolate and sell them to drunk people
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at a baseball game my second job after
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that was a hostess at Zoe's Kitchen and
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then I worked as a cashier my parents
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business they had a nail supply store I
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also worked as a server and that same
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year was also my first year of college
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so I was working a work study job on
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campus I worked at a center of identity
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inclusion basically helping run events
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for POC on campus designing posters for
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it then I had my first job as a designer
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I worked at an interdisciplinary Design
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Center on campus I was basically a ux UI
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designer working with engineering
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students to make these Community
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projects come to life and while I was
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doing that I worked at meow wolf Denver
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I was an intern there I helped build a
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lot of the sections and like stick
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flowers on the walls and stuff while I
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was doing all that stuff I did a bit of
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freelance graphic design nothing huge
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just like friends and family asking me
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to design logos or art for them but yeah
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all this to say I had a lot of work
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experience working with a boss with
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co-workers on a set schedule but finally
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during the pandemic when me and my
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friend started selling polymer clay
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charms and making a business out of it I
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just knew this is what I wanted to do
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because it was all I could think about I
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was pretty obsessed with growing on
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comfy and I'm the type of person who has
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to do something that they're passionate
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about I'm not the type of person that
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can just work a job that I don't care
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about I can't not like what I do you if
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you're having trouble starting something
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I would say start it as a hobby
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something with really low stakes start
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something with your friend even start
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something with your mom or your dad just
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have it as a passion project and I think
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the best small businesses that I've seen
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has always started off from something
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that they truly loved but as a nervous
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or uncomfy personality of course you're
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gonna be scared to do it and I think
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that all comes back to a fear of failure
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or a fear of being seen and a fear of
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being judged but what you need to
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realize is that life is short and I
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truly don't care about any of the people
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who follow me from high school make a
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new Instagram account don't follow
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anyone that you know just follow other
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small businesses that you want to be
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friends with and grow on your own terms
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without any shame because when you first
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start off No One's Gonna See It Anyway
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so just have fun with it
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dealing with anxiety and life stuff and
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starting a small business can feel very
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overwhelming how do you manage to take
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it one step at a time without putting
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too much pressure on yourself your art
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and your videos are so comforting thank
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you for that I'm so glad you find them
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comforting that's all I want these
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videos to be funny you ask because I put
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way too much pressure on myself for
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example when it comes to money I put a
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lot of pressure on myself to take care
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of my family and to take care of my
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parents and I take pride in being able
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to pay their phone bills stuff like that
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it got to a point where I was putting so
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much pressure on myself to make more and
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more money because I thought if I didn't
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give them money they wouldn't love me
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and obviously I wouldn't admit it at
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that point but I think when you're
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growing up and you have the
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responsibility of taking care of the
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finances taking care of yourself taking
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care of others it becomes really really
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taxing especially when you're
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self-employed the amount of money you
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make is dependent on how much you work
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really so if I just work harder I'll
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make more money then I'll be more worthy
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but it's never enough I really had this
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conversation with my parents and I
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finally understood that they still love
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me no matter what that I'm I'm worthy of
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Love even if I'm not exceptional and
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and even just saying that makes me choke
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up so I've been doing a lot of work on
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myself and like writing down my
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affirmations and listening to
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affirmations and really really
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reassuring myself that everything will
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be okay sort of along the same lines of
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that is how do you balance all the work
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you do with school do you function best
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when you schedule or plan everything out
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or when things are more open-ended or
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unscheduled I get really I get really
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anxious and overwhelmed with a high
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level of schedule and order I need space
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to be intuitive but also I'm not always
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very productive how do you balance that
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with all the work you do both in and out
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of school I can really really relate to
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you when it comes to just wanting to be
[893]
intuitive about your day Rowena actually
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had a really good video about this when
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she was talking about how she plans out
[900]
her weekend but the way I function best
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is when I get all the junk out of my
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head onto paper or onto my phone I set
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my biggest priorities like the things I
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absolutely have to do down on my planner
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so I know I have to do it that day and
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then on my phone recently I've been
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having like this like crazy Psychopathic
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list of everything that I do like wake
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up brush teeth workout shower eat
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breakfast check emails the list goes on
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and on and I like having that list
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because when I check that off it makes
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me feel accomplished for every little
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thing I do like it adds just as much
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importance to eating breakfast as there
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is to do my homework or submit a video
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so that's like one side of my
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personality who likes everything planned
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out but I realized that nothing goes as
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planned if I plan on sculpting but it's
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a super sunny day and I want to film
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then I'll film and then I'll sculpt my
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orders later at night and that's what I
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love about being self-employed is that I
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have so much freedom to rearrange my
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schedule I don't have any annoying Zoom
[960]
meetings to attend or anything
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can you show a behind the scenes of how
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you Vlog and get the great detailed
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shots sure
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this is my vlogging setup
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I use the Amazon Basics tripod
[974]
um it's pretty good I love this like
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cranky lover thing it does this is the
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camera that I use it's the Canon EOS 80d
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and it's like the creative kit that came
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with a ton of adjustable lenses but the
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main lens that I used to get all the
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detail shots is this really big lens
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it's the 18 by 35 millimeter lens
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and it has the capability to zoom a lot
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so this is what it usually looks like
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when I'm filming myself sculpt polymer
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clay and I also use this lens to Vlog I
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feel like with the bigger dslrs like
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these you can get a lot of depth of
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field that like the smaller vlogging
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cameras just like wouldn't have for the
[1016]
longest time I did want to buy the Sony
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zv1 or something like that the camera
[1021]
that I have the 80d it actually came out
[1024]
in 2016 so it's seven years old does not
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shoot in 4k it only goes up to 1080p but
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I'm actually really happy with this
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camera I also just use my iPhone this
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camera on the tripod it stays here I do
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not take it outside it's way too big for
[1039]
that but my iPhone is perfect I film on
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4k on my iPhone 13 Pro honestly the
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picture quality is amazing you can still
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get depth of field like in my sculpting
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in a cafe video I was just filming on
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this phone on a small desk tripod and it
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worked great as far as audio video I
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recently upgraded to the rode mic Pro
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but yeah that's how I film my videos
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so now these are just some random
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personal artsy questions how did you
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know you wanted to be a clay artist do
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you have any other hobbies that you're
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planning to turn into a business or have
[1072]
you tried making other types of art
[1074]
before coming to realize clay artists is
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what you want it to be I come from a
[1078]
family of Artisans my grandpa is an
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amazing artist he loves to engrave
[1082]
things on wood and my uncle is also a
[1085]
skilled miniature artist he made like
[1086]
little ships and my cousin was an
[1089]
amazing painter and I just come from a
[1091]
family of artists it's truly
[1094]
heartwarming when I think about it
[1095]
growing up I had never met my relatives
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and I only found out when I was 20 years
[1100]
old that I'm just like them like my
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whole family in Vietnam loves art it was
[1105]
just like something that was meant to be
[1107]
so when it came to medium I think my
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first love is actually drawing and
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painting and I still want to explore
[1112]
more oil painting because I took an oil
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painting class last semester and it's
[1117]
really really fun but Palmer Clay was
[1119]
something that I had done since I was
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nine years old I still stop doing it
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because I grew out of it and then I
[1125]
found it again as a 19 year old and I
[1128]
still love it eventually I want to make
[1129]
bigger pieces I want to start throwing
[1132]
on the wheel and making Ceramics but I
[1134]
think there's something so special about
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polymer clay about how accessible it is
[1137]
but you can make something in your home
[1140]
kitchen oven the people in the polymer
[1142]
clay Community who make Miniatures are
[1144]
so so talented and you can make anything
[1147]
you want with polymer clay it's amazing
[1149]
just for fun do you know any of your
[1151]
personal Theory types learning about
[1153]
types that are similar to me as a still
[1155]
fully original and unique human has been
[1157]
really helpful for me in finding more
[1159]
comfy and less uncomfy as of now I only
[1162]
know my 16 personalities results and
[1164]
according to that test I'm an assertive
[1166]
Advocate or infj a assertive Advocates
[1170]
are introverted intuitive feeling
[1173]
judging and assertive they approach life
[1175]
with thoughtfulness and Imagination
[1177]
Guided by their principled version of
[1179]
humanism INFJs may be the rarest
[1182]
personnel type of all but they certainly
[1185]
leave their mark on the world idealistic
[1187]
in principle they aren't content to
[1189]
Coast through life they want to stand up
[1191]
and make a difference for Advocate
[1193]
personalities success doesn't come from
[1195]
money or status but from seeking
[1197]
fulfillment helping others and being a
[1199]
Force for good in the world I really
[1201]
hope this video helped you a lot whether
[1203]
or not you're thinking about starting a
[1205]
business or becoming an artist have
[1207]
confidence in yourself trust yourself
[1209]
trust the universe and any time you
[1211]
spend on your craft or your business
[1213]
none of that is wasted you will bear the
[1216]
fruits of your labor in time
[1218]
thanks for watching
[1226]
[Music]
[1228]
Rusty red on her shoulder I was cleaning
[1233]
her shoe
[1234]
when it clicked on I tried over
[1241]
[Music]
[1243]
Lee brushed and we braided dandelions
[1247]
[Music]
[1250]
it wasn't Mutual Arrangement people saw
[1256]
into
[1257]
[Music]
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