It was a surprising decision for me not to pursue higher
education, but I've always been very conscious of
wanting to pay for my own path if possible.
My name is Kate Brunotts, I am 23 years old.
I currently live in Brooklyn, New York.
Last year I brought in $48,000.
I would say first and foremost, I'm a music
producer, so that means all the sounds that you hear
behind the vocals.
So like the pianos, the sound effects, all of those
things. I am building the beats there.
One of the best things about freelancing for me is
that you get to learn so many different skills and
put yourself in so many different situations, and
that makes me feel very engaged.
Yesterday I helped someone set up their podcast setup.
Right now I'm also teaching kids one day a week music
production. I edit podcasts.
I write for music production blogs.
I also sometimes produce for indie artists.
I do copywriting.
I've done like general marketing videos, that sort
of thing. I grew up in a very academic neighborhood
in Northern Virginia.
I always loved music growing up, but I hadn't
really found something that I was really obsessed with
until I found out that music production existed,
that I just fell head over heels in love with.
I've always wanted to work as soon as I could just
because I knew I wanted to build a safety net for
myself. My parents and my brother always emphasized
the importance of saving, and as soon as I was 15.5,
which is like the earliest age you could work, I got a
job at Wegmans.
Can I get a high five?
Good girl! How about other paw? Yes.
How about a dance? Yes.
Very good!
I eventually met Matt, who is my partner now.
He also had a very similar path of at 18, he moved out
of his home as a freelance video editor.
In that time, I learned about freelancing myself.
I didn't know that was a path that could exist,
especially, you know, for for someone like me who
hadn't really pursued any higher education.
So this year I've had a pretty large goal to try and
earn at least $1,200 a week.
I figured if I was able to do that $1,200 a week, I
would be able to set that aside and still live
comfortably in terms of being able to make the art
that I want while saving.
We each make a transfer from our own personal
accounts. And it's just for those shared expenses like
rent, groceries, utilities, insurance for our dog, pet
food, and sometimes like a little slush money if we
want to go out to eat.
Most of the time I pay for all of my expenses on my
credit card so that I can get that cash back.
I probably have around $10,000 in savings, but most
of that is coming from my IRA, which is right around
$9,000. Because I'm freelance, I don't have a
401(k) or any sort of retirement match.
So I really need to be proactive and save for that
myself. So my IRA is really important to me.
My one splurge is I budget for a bubble tea every week
because I'm so passionate about it and it's amazing.
Most weeks I'm working a pretty normal Monday through
Friday schedule.
Most of my free time is taken up by my artist
project where I'm producing and singing and performing
my own songs.
I do make a little bit of money from that.
But for me, I think it's important to have that
separation between art and what I do to survive and
sustain myself.
That's mixing my songs, that's putting together
costumes for my performances, that's paying
for my rehearsal space, putting together music
videos. There are so many ways to spend money on
music. I'm pretty minimalist in terms of
setup. Like my mini keyboard is like $100.
I use that like every day.
My guitars...
One I got from the Guitar Center dumpster.
Another was like $200 bucks.
I got a good old Squier mini over there, so nothing
too fancy.
Coming from when I first moved to New York and it was
so tight and stringent, I feel so lucky to be where I
am now. I think it's super commendable when people are
able to commit to their art full time, but I think for
me, decoupling that has has really benefited me.
And I think it benefits my art too, because I know at
the end of the day my expression is not dependent
on its perceived value in the outside world.
And so I think it can actually be really freeing.
You know, if I end up being at this level for a very
long time, but it still allows me to save and do
what I love, then I think I could definitely be happy
with that.