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In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco sits down with Brian Morrow, the innovative mind behind Shark Pig and a pioneer in reshaping the wedding videography industry. Brian takes us on a journey from his eclectic upbringing to discovering his love for filmmaking in college and then facing industry challenges alongside his business partner.

Brian dives deep into the highs and lows of starting a production company in LA, the impact of technology on the film industry, including the existential dread surrounding AI. Plus, Brian candidly shares his struggles with financial instability, the effects of the COVID pandemic, and the tough decisions that come with keeping a business afloat. Tune in for an insightful conversation about creativity, resilience, and the unconventional paths to success.

Brian Morrow is a documentary director and producer. He's the creative director and co-owner of Shark Pig, a full-service production company, post house, and creative collective. He was nominated for a PGA award for Hal, the 2018 film about the rebellious and iconic film maker Hal Ashby. It premiered at Sundance, and Shark Pig's follow-up feature doc, Sheryl, premiered at SXSW to critical praise. Brian’s most recent film, Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken is available to stream on Paramount +.

The theme music was written and performed by Andrew Parker, Jenna Parker, and Paco de Leon.

If you’d like to contact us about the show or ask Paco a question about finances, email us at weirdfinancepod (at) gmail.com or submit your questions

here

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In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco talks to Amy Posner about freelancing and building a sustainable business. Amy shares her expertise in helping individuals identify their target audience, develop a unique voice, and create effective pitching strategies to attract clients. The conversation also touches on the evolution of establishing credibility in the digital age and the importance of business skills for freelancers and creatives. Throughout the discussion, Amy provides insights and real-world examples from her extensive experience in starting, growing, and selling multiple businesses across various industries.

Amy Posner is a seasoned online entrepreneur and business coach who helps digital creative freelancers build breakthrough businesses.

Over her 30-year career, Amy (@amyrposner) has launched six successful businesses (five of which are still in business today!) and mentored thousands of freelancers to success. Now, she focuses on empowering freelancers to grow the business they want by teaching them the skills they need to attract the right clients – something she teaches in her Complete Breakthrough Freelancer course and as co-host of the Business Badassery podcast.

Amy has been featured on Copyhackers and as a guest on several top podcasts, including The Copywriter Club, Copy Chief Radio, and The Deliberate Freelancer, among others.
In her free time, you’ll find Amy adventuring around her hometown of Olympia, raising funds for pet cancer treatment, and enjoying Washington’s natural beauty.

The theme music was written and performed by Andrew Parker, Jenna Parker, and Paco de Leon.

If you’d like to contact us about the show or ask Paco a question about finances, email us at weirdfinancepod (at) gmail.com or submit your questions here. We’d also love your listener feedback about the show; here’s a short survey.

Stay in touch and sign up for Paco’s weekly email newsletter, The Nerdletter.

In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco de Leon and Caroline Cala Donofrio discuss the intricacies of a career in the arts. Caroline shares her unique journey from growing up in New Jersey with little encouragement to pursue the arts, to becoming a celebrated author of the Best Babysitters Ever series, ten ghostwritten books for celebrities, and publishing her email newsletter, Between a Rock and a Card Place. They explore challenges like imposter syndrome, societal pressures about the idea of success, and the why AI does not feel like an existential threat to creativity. Caroline talks about the significance of defining personal success, maintaining a consistent writing practice, advice she’d give to her younger self and to others navigating the creative field.

Caroline Cala Donofrio (@carolinecala) is a writer whose work has been featured in The Cut, Vogue, Elle, Refinery29, The Zoe Report and Cup of Jo (where she also worked as an editor for many years). Her newsletter, Between a Rock and a Card Place, features a mix of personal essays, interviews, and a weekly card reading. She has also authored, co-written, or ghostwritten over a dozen books.

The theme music was written and performed by Andrew Parker, Jenna Parker, and Paco de Leon.

If you’d like to contact us about the show or ask Paco a question about finances, email us at weirdfinancepod (at) gmail.com or submit your questions here. We’d also love your listener feedback about the show; here’s a short survey.

Stay in touch and sign up for Paco’s weekly email newsletter, The Nerdletter.

In this episode of Weird Finance, host Paco de Leon sits down with Pony Lee Musgrave, founder of Folklore Salon, to discuss the intersection of business and community. Pony shares their journey from aspiring artist to successful business owner, emphasizing the value of creating an inclusive and supportive environment for both clients and staff. They delve into the financial challenges of running a salon and the necessity of separating personal and business finances. Pony highlights the relief and strategic advantage of bringing on professional bookkeeping services, especially during COVID-19, and offers advice to other small business owners. Throughout the conversation, Paco and Pony stress the importance of fearlessness, community feedback, and staying true to one's values in a competitive industry.

PonyLee Musgrave is the co-founder of Folklore Salon (@folklore.la and @folklore_lbc), the first openly Queer owned and operated shop of its kind to service the LGBTQ Community and it’s badass allies and Pony has also served as a member of the of Dyke Day LA board for over a decade.

The theme music was written and performed by Andrew Parker, Jenna Parker, and Paco de Leon.

If you’d like to contact us about the show or ask Paco a question about finances, email us at weirdfinancepod (at) gmail.com or submit your questions here. We’d also love your listener feedback about the show; here’s a short survey.

Stay in touch and sign up for Paco’s weekly email newsletter, The Nerdletter.

In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco and Niluka Kavanagh dive deep into the evolving landscape of remote work and entrepreneurship. Niluka shares her journey from working at KPMG after studying at Oxford, to becoming a digital nomad and founding her company, Imagine That (@imaginethatclub). They discuss the challenges and benefits of transitioning to remote work, the significance of customer feedback, and the importance of personal branding. Niluka also addresses common misconceptions about digital nomads and the realism of balancing work while traveling.

Niluka is the Founder of ImagineThat - the Business School for Digital Nomads and Solopreneurs. ImagineThat helps ambitious but bored professionals start their own independent online services business and work from anywhere.

She does this through offering career support and her ImagineThat Business Academy.

After graduating from Oxford University, Niluka started her career in consulting at KPMG UK in London. But nearly 5 years later she wanted more and decided to embark on an experiment - to work for herself and work from anywhere.

During this time, Niluka worked on 2 of her own businesses, fully remote from 7 places across the world. She saw that it IS possible to work for herself and have location freedom - spurring her on to build ImagineThat and help others achieve the same.

If you are interested in what Niluka is doing and would like to work with her on either your online business idea or get guidance on how to transition in your career, you can reach out via the website or connect with Niluka on LinkedIn.

You can also subscribe and join over 500 people in the free community here.

Finally, you can also get the ImagineThat Guide "How to become a digital nomad through starting an online services business" which has 30 pages packed full of information on the topic from the ImagineThat website.

The theme music was written and performed by Andrew Parker, Jenna Parker, and Paco de Leon.

If you’d like to contact us about the show or ask Paco a question about finances, call our hotline at 1-833-ASK-PACO, email us at weirdfinancepod (at) gmail.com or submit your questions here. We’d also love your listener feedback about the show; here’s a short survey.

Stay in touch and sign up for Paco’s weekly email newsletter, The Nerdletter.

In this episode of Weird Finance, host Paco de Leon, along with Stephanie Bucko and Cristina Livadary from Mana Financial Life Design (@manafld), dive into the essentials of thinking like a financial planner. They discuss targeting clients with growth mindsets, particularly those in helping professions and the sandwich generation. Stephanie explains the trade-offs for business owners aiming to keep taxes low versus paying more into Social Security and retirement plans. Christina shares insights on mastering personal finance and emphasizes the importance of understanding financial numbers.

Cristina is a Certified Financial Planner® and Registered Life Planner®. Before Mana, she led sales and consulting efforts as a Regional Director with Russell Investments, where she consulted for and worked with over 10,000 financial advisors. After years of experience in the industry she grew dissatisfied with the wide disparities in knowledge, empathy, and skill within the advisor population. Cristina is a Bucknell University graduate, with a BA in Political Science and Spanish. She launched Mana with Stephanie in 2018 based on the belief that even greater success can be achieved by solving issues holistically - with individuals and their families. Since founding Mana, Cristina has been recognized for her accomplishments within the industry by leading organizations such as Investment News’ 40 under 40 in 2020 and Investopedia’s Top 100 Advisors in 2023. Cristina is living her own life plan, working in her dream career as a business owner and a financial life planner who does everything in her power to positively impact the lives of her clients. When she’s not hard at work, you can find Cristina in the great outdoors. She is passionate about surfing and adventuring around the world with her family and friends.

Stephanie is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst®. She graduated from Bucknell University with a BSBA in Accounting. Following her undergraduate education, she audited hedge funds in New York City with PricewaterhouseCoopers during the 2008 financial crisis, and then joined Man Group, the world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund. At Man Group she served as a risk manager for six years, handling $15 billion in hedge funds. After years of serving banks, pensions and endowments, Stephanie became interested in bringing institutional quality services to a broader population. In 2018, Stephanie launched Mana with Cristina out of the realization that investment management is only a small piece of the services that individuals truly need in a financial advisor. Since founding Mana, Stephanie has been recognized for her accomplishments within the industry by leading organizations such as Investopedia’s Top 100 Advisors of 2023. She is also a regular contributor to MyStockOptions.com, the financial advice industry’s premier site for equity compensation. When Stephanie isn't educating herself on the markets or building complex spreadsheets, you can find her outside. Her favorite days are spent on the ski slopes, riding horses, and bird watching.

A special thanks to the talented and generous Ramsey Yount for producing, editing, and sound designing this episode.

The theme music was written and performed by Andrew Parker, Jenna Parker, and Paco de Leon.

If you’d like to contact us about the show or ask Paco a question about finances, call our hotline at 1-833-ASK-PACO, email us at weirdfinancepod (at) gmail.com or submit your questions here. We’d also love your listener feedback about the show; here’s a short survey.

Stay in touch and sign up for Paco’s weekly email newsletter, The Nerdletter.

Welcome back to another exciting episode of Weird Finance! In this episode, we have a special Client Spotlight featuring the brilliant Sarah Salvatoriello, founder of the creative branding studio Ampersand & Ampersand. In this episode, we'll dive deep into the nuances of marketing, messaging, and brand positioning—all crucial elements for sustained business success. As Paco and Sarah navigate the challenging yet rewarding landscape of entrepreneurship, they emphasize the importance of storytelling in finance and branding.

Sarah shares her enlightening journey from working with large media organizations to carving out her own niche in the branding world, shedding light on her initial denial of the need for sales and marketing and the mental shift she had to embrace as the primary salesperson. With candid discussions on prioritizing tasks, understanding customer pain points, and managing different client budgets, they explore how branding and marketing can effectively attract and engage a target audience.

Sarah Salvatoriello (@sarahsalv) founded Ampersand & Ampersand (@ampersand.ampersand), a creative branding studio that helps small and medium-sized businesses in a moment of pivot. Sarah spent 18+ years working with global media companies, in-house agencies, design studios, and advertising agencies. In 2020, she pivoted her career and quickly realized the struggles of running a creative business in an increasingly broken system. Her zone of genius is aligning vision, voice, and visuals through a mix of Gestalt theory, industry learnings, good ol’ fashioned brand strategy, and a sprinkle of Bob Ross.

Sarah’s blend of cheerful nihilism and compassionate-capitalist business empowerment swings against toxic positivity without sacrificing effectiveness. She seeks out the overlooked, creatively connects the objective to the subjective, and advocates for “real good” over “feel good.”

Join the next Bounce House, a free creative brainstorm to share your wild ideas and see what gains traction or book the Priority Prism and get focused on your first step towards a change.

The theme music was written and performed by Andrew Parker, Jenna Parker, and Paco de Leon.

If you’d like to contact us about the show or ask Paco a question about finances, call our hotline at 1-833-ASK-PACO, email us at weirdfinancepod (at) gmail.com or submit your questions here. We’d also love your listener feedback about the show; here’s a short survey.

Stay in touch and sign up for Paco’s weekly email newsletter, The Nerdletter.

In this episode of Weird Finance, host Paco speaks with attorney Chris Valdheims about the essential role of legal matters in empowering creative businesses. They discuss creative industry legal battles, the importance of addressing legal issues proactively, and the increasing accessibility of legal services. Chris shares advice for business owners on trademarks, setting up an LLC or corporation, and having solid customer contracts. They also delve into personal experiences with financial management, the significance of saving and investing early, and the emerging trend of relocating internationally for better living conditions and work opportunities.

Chris Valdheims is a designer/software developer turned lawyer and writer who founded Counsel for Creators (@counselforcreators) as a way to connect creative people with accessible legal help. Chris grew up in Los Angeles around many people in creative industries and he knew that conventional law firms weren’t cutting it, so he built what he would have wanted to see.

Chris is also a creative in his own right; he’s in the process of getting his first book published. It’s a memoir about finding his birth family as an adult and how that changed him.

Chris is married and has two boys and he and his family will move to Croatia this year.

If you’re interested in learning more about working with Chris and the Counsel for Creators, please check out the Creator’s Legal Program.

The theme music was written and performed by Andrew Parker, Jenna Parker, and Paco de Leon.

If you’d like to contact us about the show or ask Paco a question about finances, call our hotline at 1-833-ASK-PACO, email us at weirdfinancepod (at) gmail.com or submit your questions here. We’d also love your listener feedback about the show; here’s a short survey.