The Thrifty (Music) Therapist

I attended an online training about self-employment taxes as a musician last night. I found it a really good training as it explained things like self-employment tax, quarterly tax payments, and the difference between a hobby and a business. Basically, what I am doing right now is a hobby rather than a business. I am going to change this.

Now, I am going to do something that I rarely do - recommend someone to you. If you are someone like me - someone who has NO idea what to do as far as taxes are concerned, then I recommend - Hannah Cole. Her website, sunlighttax.com, is a place where most of the questions can find answers. I have not had the opportunity to delve into all of the resources that Hannah offers, but the webinar that she gave last night was concise, clear, and important to me and my understanding of taxes as a creative professional. Check out her blog for more information about all sorts of things!

One of the things that I am thinking about is how I want to pivot from having a hobby to having an actual business. So, it is time to do that. If I can start this process now, when I am still earning a consistent salary and have that cushion of support, then it will be easier to transition when I change over to my retirement strategy. I am getting there.

My word of the year is "Cultivate." I thought that this was a good word to illustrate what I want to accomplish in my quests - learning how to do what I want to be doing in my next iteration. Growing my confidence and business knowledge as I am building a business. I just have to figure out how to do all of this. I feel more confident right now. Tax information was something missing from the business bootcamps and courses that I have taken in the past. I have put that into my foundation now, and I feel better about what is coming up. The next step is to watch my library's offerings to see what else I can learn about all of this. (I found this webinar through the library!!)

My other foundational information needs are about getting business licenses and that sort of stuff. That's the next pillar that I will be building. 

I do not really want to be hustling to get music therapy sessions scheduled.

I really want to be a consultant to other music therapists, so I will not need a music therapy session space at the moment. I want to create my books, my art, my writing, and my resources for music therapists, music educators, and for people interested in using music in their own wellness or learning journeys. 

I want to help music therapy business owners arrange their materials, schedules, idea banks, forms, and documentation to make their lives easier through the implementation of systems that can work for them. 

I would really love to travel all around this country, doing tasks that other music therapy business owners find ponderous or annoying. I love that sort of minutiae and feel that I could take it off the plates of so many folks. I wonder if anyone would like to host a music therapist for a bit of time in return for some organizational tasks and system development. 

I would love to collect experiences with many different music therapy practitioners. I could also start up my CMTE pre-approved status and offer personalized, in-person CMTEs for music therapy teams or organizations in different places. 

That would be a dream job for me - some time on the road to explore our country, some time with music therapists, helping to solidify the practices and systems that work for them, and sharing information and experiences with others.

Would that be something that interests you as a music therapist? Would you like me to visit for the purpose of helping you with what you need physical help with in your music therapy practice? Let's talk.

Thinking this way really stirs my creativity into a whirlpool vortex of dreaming...