Freelance Kills

#28: This week's episode has me thinking about some things that have come up for me during therapy over the last two weeks. What if I wanted to change my career at 35 years old? Am I too old? Is one career change too many? Am I fulfilled? I get to the bottom of how to think through that internal questioning and check-in with yourself, as well as the role of luck in making any career a success. I wrap up the episode with a short conversation on personal wellness and the importance of open dialogue in working through a problem or improving a circumstance.

During this show I cover the following topics: 1) Career pivoting, 2) Luck's role in success, and 3) Open dialogue as a key to any relationship. [Recorded 10/13/2020]

Helpful Links:

If you're interested about how I actually made a career change, these links are from older interviews that touch on my first career change from Wall Street to fashion.

Justin Bridges & Tucked : Fashion & Lifestyle Photographer [Prologue Profiles : 043] - An old interview from 2013 that still has relevancy today.

A Drink with James Episode 34 - A Conversation with Justin Bridges - Justin Bridges and James Nord talk business strategies, photography tips, how to work with brands, and hustling.

Episode 16: Season Special with Justin Bridges (American University, Washington D.C) - Learn about being a freelancer and following your dreams.

The Laws of Style hosted by Douglas Hand Episode 14 – Justin Bridges - Justin discusses his decision to leave an unfulfilling job on Wall Street to pursue his passion for photography in the fashion industry. Bridges also talks about how he manages the business aspect of being an artist (including social media and freelance work) as well as his problem-solving approach to every project.

Participate

We're always taking questions, so be sure to swing over to our Anchor.FM page and submit questions via Voicemail. Please make sure to SUBSCRIBE, and leave a RATING & REVIEW if you're enjoying the show. Feedback is always welcome.

Contribute

Lastly, if you feel you're getting value from this show, I'd appreciate your support! As little as $5/month can help. Click to SUPPORT. (https://freelancekills.com/support) Otherwise, the best way to support is by spreading the word! Thank you for listening.

Get in touch!

Website

YouTube

Instagram - @freelancekills

Skillshare

E-Mail - freelancekills [at] gmail

*DISCLAIMER* This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please make sure to consult a licensed and registered investment advisor or tax professional for specific recommendations or advice regarding your personal situation.

#027: Your Money Journey is back with a light-hearted conversation with artist and photographer Lougè Delcy, known on Instagram as Dapper Lou.  Lou and I met years ago capturing street style and blogging during New York Fashion Week. He's gone on to shoot many beautiful projects for brands, document his travels to places like Kenya and Cuba, as well as open Dapper Studios. Dapper Studios is a creative agency and collective.

Lou Delcy is based in Brooklyn, NY. He is currently part of a group exhibition called "Men of Change" at the Calif African American Museum in Los Angeles, CA. [Recorded 5/30/2020]

Get to know more about this episode's guest - Lou Delcy (@dapperlou).  You can also check out his web site (he has prints for sale!) and check out his studio, Dapper Studios.

Helpful Links:

Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth. - The exhibit is bold contemporary art, photographs, quotes and literary excerpts, and essential stories.

Participate

We're always taking questions, so be sure to swing over to our Anchor.FM page and submit questions via Voicemail. Please make sure to SUBSCRIBE, and leave a RATING & REVIEW if you're enjoying the show. Feedback is always welcome.

Contribute

Lastly, if you feel you're getting value from this show, I'd appreciate your support! As little as $5/month can help. Click to SUPPORT. (https://freelancekills.com/support) Otherwise, the best way to support is by spreading the word! Thank you for listening.

Get in touch!

Website

YouTube

Instagram - @freelancekills

Skillshare

E-Mail - freelancekills [at] gmail

*DISCLAIMER* This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please make sure to consult a licensed and registered investment advisor or tax professional for specific recommendations or advice regarding your personal situation.

#26: This week's episode takes me back to elementary school. I share a short story about playground drama and how the residual of trauma can eventually teach you something. I highlight three steps I've learned to take when battling with adversity, big or small.

During this show I cover the following topics: 1) Problem assessment, 2) Analyzing your options, and 3) Taking control back. [Recorded 9/30/2020]

Participate

We're always taking questions, so be sure to swing over to our Anchor.FM page and submit questions via Voicemail. Please make sure to SUBSCRIBE, and leave a RATING & REVIEW if you're enjoying the show. Feedback is always welcome.

Contribute

Lastly, if you feel you're getting value from this show, I'd appreciate your support! As little as $5/month can help. Click to SUPPORT. (https://freelancekills.com/support) Otherwise, the best way to support is by spreading the word! Thank you for listening.

Get in touch!

Website

YouTube

Instagram - @freelancekills

Skillshare

E-Mail - freelancekills [at] gmail

*DISCLAIMER* This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please make sure to consult a licensed and registered investment advisor or tax professional for specific recommendations or advice regarding your personal situation.

#25: There was no episode last week because I was swamped. Thanks for your patience. This week, I'm back with a fresh episode sharing a little bit of childhood learning that didn't sink in until I became an adult. I share some lessons from my father that I think can benefit us all as we tackle our careers and push for success. And, we have new music and a new intro! More steps towards streamlining the listener experience and getting you right into the content. Let me know what you think!

During this show I cover the following topics: 1) Dealing with competition and playing your game, 2) The importance of practice, 3) Avoiding the negativity that is bound to arise during your career. [Recorded 9/22/2020]

Participate

We're always taking questions, so be sure to swing over to our Anchor.FM page and submit questions via Voicemail. Please make sure to SUBSCRIBE, and leave a RATING & REVIEW if you're enjoying the show. Feedback is always welcome.

Contribute

Lastly, if you feel you're getting value from this show, I'd appreciate your support! As little as $5/month can help. Click to SUPPORT. (https://freelancekills.com/support) Otherwise, the best way to support is by spreading the word! Thank you for listening.

Get in touch!

Website

YouTube

Instagram - @freelancekills

Skillshare

E-Mail - freelancekills [at] gmail

*DISCLAIMER* This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please make sure to consult a licensed and registered investment advisor or tax professional for specific recommendations or advice regarding your personal situation.

#24: I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend. This episode is an easy listen. I tell a short story to help explain how I've learned to get out of my own way. This episode is about personal growth through setting rules, exercising a little willpower, and putting some of your decisions on autopilot.

During this show I cover the following topics: 1) Mileage running (nerd alert!), 2) My indoctrination into the Secret Society, 3) Using self-imposed rules to remove yourself as an obstacle and move towards growth. [Recorded 9/08/2020]

Helpful Links:

"I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" Ads

Participate

We're always taking questions, so be sure to swing over to our Anchor.FM page and submit questions via Voicemail. Please make sure to SUBSCRIBE, and leave a RATING & REVIEW if you're enjoying the show. Feedback is always welcome.

Contribute

Lastly, if you feel you're getting value from this show, I'd appreciate your support! As little as $5/month can help. Click to SUPPORT. (https://freelancekills.com/support) Otherwise, the best way to support is by spreading the word! Thank you for listening.

Get in touch!

Website

YouTube

Instagram - @freelancekills

Skillshare

E-Mail - freelancekills [at] gmail

*DISCLAIMER* This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please make sure to consult a licensed and registered investment advisor or tax professional for specific recommendations or advice regarding your personal situation.

#23: A major component to learning is practical knowledge. This episode is about setting up your first investment account.  You can follow along with me, so check the links in the show notes below.

During this show I cover the following topics: 1) Setting up an account, 2) Taking an investor questionnaire/ risk assessment test, 3) Picking and implementing a basic portfolio allocation. [Recorded 9/01/2020]

Episode Timecodes:

05:00 - Setting up an account at Betterment (and Vanguard)

13:00 - Walking through an Investor Questionnaire/Risk Assessment on Vanguard's site.

22:00 - An introduction to Core-4 for DIY investors. Portfolio selection, portfolio allocation and fund selection.

35:00 - Types of accounts you should consider: Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SEP IRA, or Regular Brokerage Account

41:15 - IG Live Question: What are capital gains, and what is the difference between long-term and short-term capital gains?

44:00 - IG Live Question: How do I decide my portfolio allocation between equities and bonds?

Helpful Links:

Comparing Betterment and Wealthfront

Open an Account at Betterment

Vanguard Investor Questionnaire

Alternative Risk Assessment Test

Core-4 - Sample Portfolios to Model Your Portfolio

Participate

We're always taking questions, so be sure to swing over to our Anchor.FM page and submit questions via Voicemail. Please make sure to SUBSCRIBE, and leave a RATING & REVIEW if you're enjoying the show. Feedback is always welcome.

Contribute

Lastly, if you feel you're getting value from this show, I'd appreciate your support! As little as $5/month can help. Click to SUPPORT. (https://freelancekills.com/support) Otherwise, the best way to support is by spreading the word! Thank you for listening.

Get in touch!

Website

YouTube

Instagram - @freelancekills

Skillshare

E-Mail - freelancekills [at] gmail

*DISCLAIMER* This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please make sure to consult a licensed and registered investment advisor or tax professional for specific recommendations or advice regarding your personal situation.

#022: Your Money Journey is back with an insightful conversation with founder, editor and author David Yi.  I met David when he was a fashion editor at Women's Wear Daily (WWD) and I was shooting street style. He later went on to run the fashion and beauty content vertical at Mashable and then onto found his own media site Very Good Light™. In 2021, David's first book, Pretty Boys, will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

David Yi is based in Los Angeles, CA., though quarantining in Colorado, so we had our chat via Zoom. [Recorded 5/30/2020]

Get to know more about this episode's guest - David Yi (@seoulcialite).  You can also check out Very Good Light™ (@verygoodlight) which is redefining masculinity through beauty, how-tos, personal essays, and celebrity interviews. 

Episode Timecodes:

00:30 - Introduction

05:00 - Coping with COVID-19 isolation.

05:40 - David tells us about his new book Pretty Boys (June '21)

10:45 - Background on David Yi - Career, and Founding his own company. 

14:00 - Representation and diversity in the media and advocacy for those stories. The launch of Very Good Light™.

15:30 - Growing up as an Asian American in a white suburb. Being a proud Korean American and standing up to racism.

21:00 - Definition of Money and immigrant parents.

22:30 - Relationship with Money and its importance of money on voice and change in America.

23:55 - Learning the Value of the Dollar from his parents' hard work. Wanting to think about the future and creating generational wealth.

27:45 - Retirement Investing vs. Investing in Self.

29:30 - Redefining Self-Care. Being accountable, embracing your flaws, and becoming a better person.

30:45 - Money Fears.

39:10 - Getting past COVID-19 in a stronger position.

42:45 - The Emotional Spiral and protecting yourself.

49:00 - Speed Round. Casual questions.

55:15 - Housekeeping. 

Participate

We're always taking questions, so be sure to swing over to our Anchor.FM page and submit questions via Voicemail. Please make sure to SUBSCRIBE, and leave a RATING & REVIEW if you're enjoying the show. Feedback is always welcome.

Contribute

Lastly, if you feel you're getting value from this show, I'd appreciate your support! As little as $5/month can help. Click to SUPPORT. (https://freelancekills.com/support) Otherwise, the best way to support is by spreading the word! Thank you for listening.

Get in touch!

Website

YouTube

Instagram - @freelancekills

Skillshare

E-Mail - freelancekills [at] gmail

*DISCLAIMER* This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please make sure to consult a licensed and registered investment advisor or tax professional for specific recommendations or advice regarding your personal situation.

#21: One of our Instagram followers reached out with a great question! She wanted to know, "As a 35 year old beginner photographer, any advice for how to compete with the current market?" It's such a great question that will help so members of our community, so instead of a mini episode, it's getting the full episode treatment. Thanks for the question Marla! 

During this show I cover the following topics: 1) Building a solid skill set, 2) Supply and demand, 3) Concrete marketing steps. [Recorded 8/17/2020]

Episode Timecodes: 

00:30 - Introduction

03:15 - Education and Skillset, Imposter Syndrome 

05:14 - Checklist of actions you can take to build a foundation of solid skills and work towards mastering your craft. Don't forget, business skip learning business skills!

09:30 - Supply & Demand, using the example of Uber. What does Supply and Demand tell us about breaking down our strategy?

12:50 - The need for Experience

13:30 - Quality of Supply & Quality of Demand, a deeper dive into understanding how to compare, compete and analyze your market. 

15:00 - List of research questions for finding and targeting your next client.

16:22 - Marketing and getting noticed. Online portfolios to printed promotional materials and other ideas.

23:10 - Conclusion. Make sure to send me your questions through email, DM on Instagram, or by voicemail on Anchor.FM.

Helpful Links:

Take a Photography Class

aPhotoEditor.com

Revisit Episode 19 of Freelance Kills

Participate

We're always taking questions, so be sure to swing over to our Anchor.FM page and submit questions via Voicemail. Please make sure to SUBSCRIBE, and leave a RATING & REVIEW if you're enjoying the show. Feedback is always welcome.

Contribute

Lastly, if you feel you're getting value from this show, I'd appreciate your support! As little as $5/month can help. Click to SUPPORT. (https://freelancekills.com/support) Otherwise, the best way to support is by spreading the word! Thank you for listening.

Get in touch!

Website

YouTube

Instagram - @freelancekills

Skillshare

E-Mail - freelancekills [at] gmail

*DISCLAIMER* This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please make sure to consult a licensed and registered investment advisor or tax professional for specific recommendations or advice regarding your personal situation.

#020: This is episode is a conversation pulled from the archive with my friend and fellow artist, Dario Calmese. Dario is an artist, a writer, a director, and a storyteller.  Originally, we sat down in 2017 before I truly got serious about this podcast. We are symbiotic on so many topics, and fairly prescient about what's going on now even though it was a few years ago. We talk about artistic education, the business of fashion photography, and we even touch on the idea of the American dream. This is a conversation for the ages. [Recorded 3/22/2017]

Get to know more about this episode's guest - Dario Calmese (@dario.studio), The Institute of Black Imagination (@blackimaginationpodcast) and dariocalmese.com.

*Correction*: In the introduction, I said something like thank goodness for COVID. Oops, I misspoke. What I really meant was I'm thankful that the tiny silver-lining of such a horrible disease and rough time for everyone is a slow down from the toxic speeds we were all traveling. Don't @ me.

Participate

We're always taking questions, so be sure to swing over to our Anchor.FM page and submit questions via Voicemail. Please make sure to SUBSCRIBE, and leave a RATING & REVIEW if you're enjoying the show. Feedback is always welcome.

Contribute

Lastly, if you feel you're getting value from this show, I'd appreciate your support! As little as $5/month can help. Click to SUPPORT. (https://freelancekills.com/support) Otherwise, the best way to support is by spreading the word! Thank you for listening.

Get in touch!

Website

YouTube

Instagram - @freelancekills

Skillshare

E-Mail - freelancekills [at] gmail

*DISCLAIMER* This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please make sure to consult a licensed and registered investment advisor or tax professional for specific recommendations or advice regarding your personal situation.

#QA-3: Today's question comes from one of our listeners, Sarah! Question: How do I ensure the money I'm investing goes to companies that align with my values?  

Apologies for the audio quality in my answer, this was recorded on an old audio set up back in May '20. [Recorded 5/14/2020]

Helpful Links:

SRI Defined on Investopedia -  https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sri.asp

SRI Investing with Betterment - https://www.betterment.com/socially-responsible-investing/

Pros & Cons of SRI Investing (and Robo Advisors that have SRI portfolios) - https://www.doughroller.net/investing/pros-and-cons-of-socially-responsible-investing/

ESG Defined on Investopedia - https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/environmental-social-and-governance-esg-criteria.asp

More on ESG on Motley Fool - https://www.fool.com/investing/what-is-esg-investing.aspx

Participate

We're always taking questions, so be sure to swing over to our Anchor.FM page and submit questions via Voicemail. Please make sure to SUBSCRIBE, and leave a RATING & REVIEW if you're enjoying the show. Feedback is always welcome.

Contribute

Lastly, if you feel you're getting value from this show, I'd appreciate your support! As little as $5/month can help. Click to SUPPORT. (https://freelancekills.com/support) Otherwise, the best way to support is by spreading the word! Thank you for listening.

Get in touch!

Website

YouTube

Instagram - @freelancekills

Skillshare

E-Mail - freelancekills [at] gmail

*DISCLAIMER* This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please make sure to consult a licensed and registered investment advisor or tax professional for specific recommendations or advice regarding your personal situation.