ctors often operate under the misconception that making more money will solve all their financial problems: I'll plan for retirement (when I book the film), set up a debt plan (after next pilot season), and make time to organize my receipts and research investments (once my show closes and I have a better job). These rationalizations give us permission to postpone building a stable emotional relationship with our money, keeping us in a constant state of financial insecurity and stress. This burden can be lifted, however, and significant and lasting success achieved by understanding and overcoming our financial paradigms.
A paradigm is a deeply rooted belief system that has been imprinted upon our subconscious mind, frequently by other people and circumstances. Our financial paradigms were crafted from our earliest impressions of parental behavior, our school environments, and our communities and cultures. These belief systems influence our worldview and manifest themselves through our day-to-day decisions and patterns.
Unfortunately, most people were not raised in environments conducive to strong financial paradigms. At school we aren't taught to manage money, social etiquette deems the discussion rude, and many parents avoid any mention of financial matters around their children. The situation is worse for actors who've received a barrage of external programming: "You'll always be a starving artist. Most actors aren't successful. Make sure you have something to fall back on. If you can do anything else and be happy, do that instead." These messages create a paradigm of conformity and poverty consciousness: On a deep level, we doubt our ability to achieve and sustain financial success.
With all these conflicting messages running through your mind, it's imperative that you begin your financial therapy right away by investigating your individual paradigm. Your first inclination upon reading this psychological mumbo jumbo may be to dismiss it outright; however, this is the crucial first step in wealth building—and the one most frequently neglected. We are all too familiar with the struggling actor who becomes an "overnight success" and who, upon the string of luck ending, finds himself in the same financial state he was in before. It doesn't matter how earnestly you wish to build wealth; if what you feel in your core is "Rich people are greedy and self-serving," your subconscious mind will affect your good intentions and sabotage your actions.
The good news for actors is that our job is to clarify human behavior and intention, and the same methodology can be employed here. To prepare a role, you need to uncover 1) what has just happened in the scene (given circumstances), 2) how you feel about it (emotional preparation), and 3) what you need because of it (objective). By applying these same steps to your money history, you can 1) excavate the experiences that shaped your point of view, 2) recognize how you related to them emotionally, and 3) alter future responses to those triggers.
These insights may be uncovered privately or with supportive, compassionate friends. Scan back through the major pivotal events in your financial life. Jot down the themes and persons involved and collect any mental images or phrases that spring up. You are mining for gold by skimming the surface of the water; don't be surprised if a tremendous amount of energy and emotion rises in you. The ultimate goal is to establish beliefs that serve you and replace the rest with more-practical, empowering truths.
We belong to an elite and wonderful club as artists. Our passion, sensitivity, ingenuity, courage, generosity, and empathy can lift us above our money issues. Imagine the ability to take care of one another, grow our theatres, invest in our artistic pursuits, and lead the healthy, ambitious, and creatively charged lives of which we dream. Redefine your financial paradigms and you will experience more flexibility, ease, and energy in your efforts toward success.
Bryan Scott Bellomo is head coach and Miata Edoga president and founder of Abundance Bound, a financial-education company for actors. They focus on teaching critical money-management skills that allow actors to pursue their craft without the heavy burden of financial stress. Visit www.abundancebound.com for more information.
