Nell Maynard: Fear vs. Love, Funding The Arts & Wisdom In Transparency

Well, let me take you back to, so I got here in 2017.

I was 25 and I had dropped out of medical school and wasn't interested in pursuing medicine.

I had a degree in biochemistry and was like, I don't want to use this.

I don't want to do science.

I just want to write songs.

Uh, so I got, you know, I rented somebody's second bedroom and bounced around house to house, you know, rent for $500, $600 a month, wherever I could for about two and a half years working at a flower shop.

I taught music classes to babies.

I was a dog walker.

I...

Was a barista.

I nannied.

I bartended.

Just did, you know, whatever you have to do to make money.

So lots of day jobs in that era.

And then I did that for probably six-ish years.

And then I was home visiting my folks in Colorado.

two years ago and i played my dad a demo just that i happened to get while i was in their house and i was you know it ended and i said yeah well this is what i do all day and he's this he goes this is so worthwhile and i was like so interesting you should say that Worth what would you say? If you were

to put a number on it.

If you were to put a number on it, because I have been doing this for free for a long time and I'm writing full time and I'm just like scrapping for money elsewhere, which everyone's so familiar with.

And I was like, we need to talk about money because I'm making risky financial choices by even continuing to try and pursue this.

Like I have no savings.

Can I grind on this for another 10 years? Or if you die, am I going to be completely screwed? like, do I need to get a real job right now is what I'm asking.

Because I was at that point where I was like, I either keep doing this for free, have no savings, could end up 45, 50 with nothing to show for it, except, you know, a lifetime of creative fulfillment.

Pish posh.

You know, or I could have hits.