- Hunt for bargains on goods (including used and new musical equipment)
- Hunt for bargains on stocks and other investments
- Offer a special sale on your CD or band merch
- Reexamine your lifestyle to cut costs and eliminate inefficiencies
- If gigs are slow, use spare time to practice/exercise/improve skills/learn to cook
- Possibly increase insurance coverage (crime goes up during recessions)
- Re-establish connection with former musical contacts
- Volunteer/go to friends' gigs/vote/host a jam session/build goodwill
- Simply enjoy life and do something to make a difference
A recession is generally a bad time to:
- Quit or start complaining about your gig
- Try selling off used gear or other goods
- Panic and sell investments at market lows
- Assume that the market has bottomed and rush into a big investment
- Not face up to your personal financial circumstances (this is ALWAYS a bad idea!)
- Budget based on overly optimistic assumptions about income
- Give in to depression or fear
Hey, it's not so bad, you'll get through this. And remember, we musicians are actually kind of lucky in that most of us have multiple sources of income, leaving us less vulnerable than someone who depends on a single employer for his entire livelihood. Feel any better? :-)
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1 comment:
This is just what I needed to read. Bad news is good for newspapers and news media (and perhaps good for Barack Obama), so it's getting a lot of play. If you're like me and read the paper every day cover to cover, it gets pretty scary! It's good to remember the good news! For everything there is a season! We were living in a bubble. Now it's burst.
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